Kunisada: Three Beauties Create Bunraku Puppet Theater 重陽・ 後の月宴

Artist: Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1864)Title: Chrysanthemum Festival（September) after the Moon Festival (August) (Chôyô/ atono tsuki  no utage)重陽・ 後の月宴  Date: 1854/ 4th month Three beauties and three unseen puppeteers manipulate large, lifelike puppets to recreate a famous bunraku scene on a makeshift stage. Candles illuminate the “stage”. It is autumn, as evidenced by the branches of orange maple leaves. Here Kunisada depicts the ladies creating puppet theater on the veranda. The scene is the act “Nozaki Village” from the puppet drama “Osome Hisamatsu”, a work written by Chikamatsu Hanji. This is the scene when Hisamatsu asks Omitsu to do moxa cautery treatment for Hisasaku who is suffering from stiff shoulders and headache. However, Osome appears to the scene. In the center Omitsu hesitats with moxa cautery sticks  in her hand: on the right sheet old Hisasaku seated and massaged by  Hisamatsu, on the left entering Osome with head cover attended by her maid, drawing the attention of Omit