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Celeberating the Accession to the Name Kiyomoto En'ei
Celeberating the Accession to the Name Kiyomoto En'ei
Celeberating the Accession to the Name Kiyomoto En'ei

Celeberating the Accession to the Name Kiyomoto En'ei

Date1860s
MediumHaikai ichimaizuri surimono (deluxe color woodblock), ink, color, and blind stamping on paper
DimensionsSheet: 15 3/8 x 20 11/16 in. (39.1 x 52.5 cm)
Credit LineGift of Brooks McCormick Jr.
Object number2003.63
Object TypePrints
On View
Not on view

This print records the occasion when the geisha Ei of the Yawataya house received the name Kiyomoto En’ei 清元延栄 and was accepted into the Kiyomoto school. This school specialized in accompaniments for Kabuki theater, especially jöruri chanters and shamisen (a stringed instrument) players. The text records that she is accepting accession "with great trepidation, due to her inexperience." While En’ei’s new and old names are listed in the lower right row, the upper rows contain the names of the school’s two leaders, Kiyomoto Enjuday IV (1832–1904) and his wife, Kiyomoto Oyö (1840–1901). While considered among the greatest performers in the history of the school, Oyö is further distinguished as one of the greatest female jöruri performers and composers in the history of the art form.

Almost all the poems contain puns on a character in the new name, "en", both the first character in the leader’s name, and the character given to all new students. "En" means to grow or to develop and the well-wishers typically wish the new student’s great development in the future. The Kiyomoto song book, here wrapped in fine silk brocade and lying on the red lacquer table, was typically given to new students in an elaborate induction ceremony. Through the folded, partially-opened cloth, we can glimpse the name of En’ei and the seal of the Kiyomoto school. The three stacked morning glories in the ceramic tea cup may refer to one of the school’s standard songs "Kasane" or "to stack."