shimabara-kagai: shimabara-kagai:a painting of one of the former tayû to carry the name Usug
shimabara-kagai: shimabara-kagai: a painting of one of the former tayû to carry the name Usugumo 薄雲太夫, by Kurokawa Masako 黒川雅子, from her blog. You can tell by her obi knot that she was a minarai here, called a “furisode-tayû” after the long sleeves of her kimono. This particular Usugumo-tayû retired sometime around 2010. The Wachigai-ya teahouse has had a long line of women called Usugumo, but all of the women to come after this particular tayû in the painting have been “part time” roles, to make the tayû dôchû (processions) look more illustrious. Though Kisaragi is the top tayû, I have a theory that the Usugumo name has symbolic value, because the Wachigai-ya just can’t go without having one! reblogging for a correction: Kurokawa Masako is a woman; I originally credited the photo to “his blog”. Here she is (in white) with her painting! (photo Source) thanks as always to @missmyloko catchin’ me slippin’ ヽ(〃･ω･)ﾉ -- source link