Samurai and Wakashu (Male Youth)

Miyagawa Isshō

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Isshō created a rare Ukiyo-e-school painting of a young man and an older man. At left is a gender ambiguous young male Kabuki actor, or wakashu. At right is an older suitor trying to seduce him by grasping his sleeve. The young man's kerchief is a called a yarō bōshi, worn by wakashu actors after shaving their foreheads, a mark of coming of age. Onnagata (adult male Kabuki actors who played female roles) through the Edo period also wore such kerchiefs. The composition parodies the “armor pulling” (kusazuri biki) scene from Soga Brothers vendetta plays in which the older warrior Asahina tugs at the armor of the impetuous young Soga Gorō tugs at the lappers of his brother Asaina’s armor to stop him from going fool heartedly into a confrontation he cannot survive.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.

Metropolitan Museum of Art