The Actor Segawa Kikunojo as the Young Woman of the Yanagiya

A beautiful young woman stands under a ginkgo tree, whose leaves are just beginning to turn yellow. Wearing flared high “ginkgo” geta, a chic striped obi, and a minimally decorated kosode, she epitomizes the Edo brand of understated chic known as iki. Next to her is a tobacco box containing a small brazier and bamboo ashtray, into which she will presumably empty the contents of the long, elegant pipe she holds.
An inscription and the bundled silk roving actor’s crest tell us that this is the actor Segawa Kikunojō II. The role is Ofuji, a young woman who worked at the toothpick store Yanagiya, located under a ginkgo tree in the Asakusa section of Edo. Known as one of the three famous beauties of the Meiwa era (1764–1771), Ofuji was the subject of numerous Kabuki plays as well as ukiyoe prints. This one has been identified as a scene from the second act of the play Soga moyō aigo no wakamatsu, performed in the third month of 1769 at the Nakamura Theater in Edo. In the play, contemporary celebrities stand in for characters from the past: here Ofuji is actually Tora Gozen of Ōiso, a courtesan in the warrior epic The Tale of the Soga Brothers (Soga monogatari), set in the twelfth century.
Segawa Kikunojō II (1741–1773) is the same actor shown in his boyhood stage debut in no. 19. He took this name in 1756, and became one of the most famous actors specializing in young female roles (waka onnagata). Popular not only with male connoisseurs but also with female patrons, he was imitated for everything from his hairstyle and hair accessories to his signature color and the method he used to tie his obi.