Sawamura Tanosuke III Dancing the Comic Character of Otano

The comic novel On the Tōkaidō Road on Foot (Tōkaidōchū hizakurige) tells the story of the jolly fellows Yajirōbei and Kitahachi, who left Edo and their debts behind and set off on the Tōkaidō Road on foot or (as the title says) “with their brownish knees”. The novel was staged several times and the Nakamuraza Theatre first played the scene with the female dancer Otano (and her female companion Ateshi) in 1863. (See Helena Honcoopová, Kunisada, Praha 2005, p. 136)