. Chats on Japanese prints. aku. But it must not be forgotten that he pro-duced a number of designs in hoso-ye form that arethe very flower of his work. Kurth places certain ofthese early in Sharakus career; he is, perhaps, wrongin this, for many of those which he thus dates giveevidence of an art so mature and masterful that theymust be at least contemporaneous with the RoninSeries. Such are the print of Arashi Ryuzo as anaged noble in robe of black with violet girdle, andthe print of Segawa Kikusabro in robe of olive andpurple holding an open fan. In the finest of thesehoso-ye the dramatic f
. Chats on Japanese prints. aku. But it must not be forgotten that he pro-duced a number of designs in hoso-ye form that arethe very flower of his work. Kurth places certain ofthese early in Sharakus career; he is, perhaps, wrongin this, for many of those which he thus dates giveevidence of an art so mature and masterful that theymust be at least contemporaneous with the RoninSeries. Such are the print of Arashi Ryuzo as anaged noble in robe of black with violet girdle, andthe print of Segawa Kikusabro in robe of olive andpurple holding an open fan. In the finest of thesehoso-ye the dramatic force of the composition is sosubtle that the element of caricature takes a subordi-nate place. A lyric mood pervades them. It isimpossible to contemplate these figures without asense, not merely of the irony and contempt whichthey sometimes embody, but also of the tragic heightson which they move. Lofty conflicts, desperatedestinies, immense strainings toward desired goals,immense despairs before impassable barriers—these. SHARAKU : THE ACTOR KOSAGAWA T3UNEY0 AS A WOMAN IN THEDRAMA OF THE FORTY-SEVEN RONIN. Silver background. Size 14 x 10. Signed Toshinsai Sliaraku ga. Ainswortli Collection, Plate 44. 313 FOURTH PERIOD: THE DECADENCE 315 are some of the emotions that confront us here. Theecho of the tragedy of the Greeks is around them ;their gestures seem the shadows of titanic gave us the gods; Sharaku gives us thosewho fought against the gods. If it were my fortuneto choose, out of the tens of thousands of prints thatI have seen, one print which could alone be savedfrom some impending universal destruction, I amnot sure whether I would take Harunobus flawless Flute Player, or Kiyonagas serene Terrace bythe Sea, or that terrible print of Sharakus, illus-trated in both Kurth and the catalogue of theexhibition at the Musde des Arts D^coratifs, in whichthe orange-robed figure of Nakayama Tomisabrostalks by with an intensity of passion that makesones flesh c
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