Art Archive • Sharaku
Ukiyo-e
Ōkubi-e
Iwai Hanshirō IV as Shigenoi in the Play Koinyōbō Somewake Tazuna
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Tōshūsai Sharaku. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (public domain).
About this work
Shigenoi from The Colored Reins of a Loving Wife — a wet-nurse role rendered with the gentle clarity Sharaku reserves for onnagata.
Iwai Hanshirō IV appears as the wet-nurse Shigenoi. Among Sharaku’s onnagata, this face trades exaggeration for intimate calm.
Viewing notes
Compare the softened line of onnagata makeup with tachiyaku portraits nearby.
Study how mica lightens the ground without competing with pale face pigment.
Note the nursing role’s quiet dignity — narrative carried by expression alone.
Extended Japanese viewing notes: 四代岩井半四郎の乳人重の井.