Kunisada: Actor as Seigen with Golden Incense Holder

Artist: Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865)Title:  Actor as Seigen as Kiyomizu Komachi清玄阿闍梨 沢村訥升. Series: The Seven Komachi 七小町の内 (Nana Komachi no uchi) Date: 1864 We see an actor in the role of a Buddhist priest, perhaps in the role of Seigen, a tragic kabuki role of great reknown.  He holds a Buddhist rosary as well as a golden incense holder in the shape of a lotus, and behind him we see a profusion of decorative flowers. In the inset we see what seems to be a view of Kiyomizudera, so perhaps this is Kiyomizu (shimizu) Komachi. Kunisada signed this with pride with his age, seventy-nine, which ended up being his final year of life. The series title “Seven Komachi“ relates to the famous nana (seven) legendary acts of Komachi (Ono-no Komachi; ca. 825-ca. 900), the celebrated poetess of the Heian Period. This series gives a spin on each of the seven legends related to Komachi, who was also known as a matchless beauty. The seven scenes are “Shimizu Komachi“, ”amagoi Komachi”, “ómu Komachi“,"sós