Page:The Surviving Works of Sharaku (1939).djvu/255



t the time when Sharaku was working, the various dramatic entities produced together usually had some thematic connection, clear or vague; and as the same characters often were represented in more than one part of a production it may be impossible to tell in which of these the actor appeared as he is shown in a print.

In the production at the Miyako-za in the eleventh month of 1794, the main theme was the rivalries in the court circles during a certain period of the ninth century and these were illustrated by the stories of the rival imperial princes Koretaka and Korehito on the one hand, and the rival poets Ono no Komachi and Ōtomo no Kuronushi on the other.

The rivalry of Koretaka and Korehito was over a question of succession to the throne, and discussion of its historical aspects would be of no interest whatever in connection with the prints, but the story of Komachi and Kuronushi should at least be given in outline here.

Ono no Komachi in her youth was the most beautiful and the most talented of all the ladies of the court. Her rank as one of the greatest poets