Reiko Playing Shamisen

Reiko, in a patterned kimono on a red ground, sits on the floor holding a shamisen and plays it in profile. At the lower right is a wooden box with a sheet of paper bearing writing. The background is filled in dark brown, and the red of the kimono and her white skin stand out. Although the picture is small, about 40 centimeters high, the figure is painted with solid volume. The neck of the shamisen crosses the picture diagonally, and the contrast between its white body and the red kimono is vivid.

At the top of the picture is a red band, and at the upper left is inscribed "Reiko Dangen Zu" (Reiko Playing the Strings), with "painted by Ryusei on the twenty-eighth of the first month of the Kigai year" at the upper right. The twenty-eighth of the first month of Kigai corresponds to January 28, 1923, and the work dates from when Ryusei lived in Kugenuma, Kanagawa Prefecture. Ryusei painted his daughter Reiko many times from her early childhood, and her figure was the central subject of his career.

In fiscal 1980 this work was transferred from the Agency for Cultural Affairs to the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto. It has been shown repeatedly in exhibitions of Ryusei's work, including the 1990 exhibition Kishida Ryusei: Reiko and Kugenuma Landscapes.