Perfect Matches

(Aisho kagami, 逢性鏡)

Publisher: Iba-ya Kyûbei

1847-1850

 

This series of fan prints (uchiwa) pairs beautiful women with kabuki actors.  The series title, Aisho kagami, may also be translated as “Mirror of Compatibility” or as “Meeting in a Looking Glass”.  This series is not listed in Kuniyoshi by Basil William Robinson (Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1961).

 

Description: The courtesan Onoe applying makeup with an inset of her lover, the samurai Genda Itahachi (They committed suicide in 1746)

Description: Beauty against a stylized wave-and-fish-patterned background reading a letter, in mirror Gonpachi (権八) 

Description:

Description: Yaoya Oshichi and her lover Kichisaburô (吉三郎)

CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO MAIN PAGE