Cleveland Museum of Art

Iwai Hanshirō IV as a Woman with a Sword

Date

1791

Medium

color woodblock print

Culture

Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)

Department

Japanese Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

In this unidentified role, Iwai Hanshirō IV is costumed as a woman with long flowing hair, wielding a sword. Men of the Edo period shaved their head from the forehead back to the crown, leaving the side and back hair long, though tied in an updo. Even after the practice was abandoned for Kabuki theater actors specializing in female roles, they kept the custom of concealing the area that would once have been bare, so Hanshirō has a murasaki no bōshi (紫の帽子), or purple headband, attached to his wig.

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