73 Inoue Yasuji 1864 – 1889 Shizuka Gozen

from the series Kyōdō risshi no moto (“Instructive Models of Lofty Ambition”)
publisher: Matsuki Heikichi

Print no. 15 in this moral-educational series depicts the famed shirabyōshi dancer Shizuka Gozen performing before Minamoto no Yoritomo at Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū in Kamakura.
Shizuka, the lover of Yoritomo’s younger brother Yoshitsune, was pregnant with his child when she was forced to dance for the shogun. Defying him, she sang of her devotion to Yoshitsune and her sorrow at their separation. Enraged by her courage, Yoritomo ordered that if the child were a boy, he be killed — and that Shizuka herself be executed.

Inoue Yasuji, a pupil of Kobayashi Kiyochika, renders the tragic moment with subdued colors and gentle light, giving the scene quiet emotional depth.

The story of Shizuka Gozen endures as a symbol of fidelity and moral strength transcending fear and death.