With the help of a story that has remained intact over the years and into the present day, this work depicts a heroine with a unique way of life in a fantasy. This work depicts Okiku, the heroine of the Kabuki play "Bancho Sarayashiki," based on the version written by Okamoto Kido, which was first p...

With the help of a story that has remained intact over the years and into the present day, this work depicts a heroine with a unique way of life in a fantasy. This work depicts Okiku, the heroine of the Kabuki play "Bancho Sarayashiki," based on the version written by Okamoto Kido, which was first performed in 1914. Unlike the gruesome ghost stories in which a woman's ghost appears nightly from inside a well, this play is more modern in that it depicts a love affair between a man and a woman who are like an elite businessman and an office worker. A woman tests a man by breaking an heirloom plate. The man, enraged by her suspicions, tries to swing his sword out of samurai pride. In the euphoria of having confirmed her love, the woman puts her hands together, looks straight at the man, and begs him to kill her. Kabuki is a stage play that excites the audience by depicting the eroticism of death as if it were a "sacrificial ritual. Size of work (mat window): 39.8 x 49 cm ・Frame size (outside dimensions): 46.3 x 55.5 cm ・ Technique: Japanese painting on silk