Title : Children's Play - Kabuki

Artist : Unknown

Date : Ca. 1870s.

Details : Unknown: Children's Play - Kabuki - Artelino

Source : artelino - Japanese Prints
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Description : "Tokyo Kodomo Haiyu; Chiyokame Goten Take no Ma no Ba". Children of kabuki actors are playing kabuki roles of "Meiboku Sendai Hagi" which was based on the event in 1660s. Tsurukiyo (right: played by Ichikawa Tombo, 6 years old) was the heir of the rich and powerful Date clan who was protected by the wet nurse Masaoka. She raised the child in the women's quarters with her own son Senmatsu (left: played by Onoe Toyomaru 6 years old). In this scene, Senmatsu tasted and died from the poisoned food which was meant for Tsurukiyo. Masaoka feigned indifference so that the assassins assumed the murdered child was the heir not her own child. After the people left in the scene, she grieved dramatically for her son. The scene showed the classic values of Japanese heroism - loyalty of both Masaoka and the young martyr son Senmatsu.

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