“Beauty attacking a priest”(1881), Toyohara Kunichika (1835-1900)

Scene from a kabuki play. A young woman and a rogue fight on the roof of a house as water is flowing around them.

Always referred to as “Evil Omatsu”, this female bandit appears in a number of kabuki plays. Her story seems to be based on true facts, however she is always represented as a vile woman, perhaps too dangerous for the rigid society of the time. It is said that she killed her husband, a blind samurai, and then started to live as an outlaw.

The princess Kiyoshi Hikariin draws her sword in order to avenge herself. The folding screen behind her is decorated with the mon (crest) of the powerful Tokugawa family, who ruled the shogunate during the Edo period.

Print from the series “ Thirty Six Good and Evil Beauties”

1886