In this artwork, how is the Image of the Fan Print elucidated?
The scene depicted on the fan is of two male bugaku dancers in full ceremonial costume, who appear to be performing a dance in lock-step with no audience in evidence. Bugaku, made up of the characters for 'dance' (舞-bu) and 'music' or 'entertainment' (楽-gaku), joined Japanese culture from China, Korea, India and Southeast Asia in the late 8th century, as a form of dance performed at the imperial court, as well as at temples and shrines. Dancers assume stylized hand, arm and foot poses accompanied by drumming and the world's oldest surviving orchestral music, gagaku. Bugaku is often performed by dancers wearing masks to represent fictional characters, though not in Kunisada's print. There are four bugaku genres: civil, warrior, children's, and running dances. The figures here appear to be performing the latter.
From the late 1820s, Kunisada began studying painting under Hanabusa Ikkei (英一珪), master of the Itchō school. The art-name appearing on this print, "Kōchōrō" (香蝶楼), borrows characters from his teacher's pseudonym (Shinkō) and from the name of the school's founder, Hanabusa Itchō (英一蝶). Both of these artists painted bugaku scenes prior to "Fan Print with two Bugaku Dancers," which are very different in style from Kunisada's image.
bugaku gagaku Hanabusa Itchō Kunisada Bugaku