“Shirabyōshi” by Yoshimi OHTANI

Yoshimi OHTANI’s new illustration for animated wallpaper “Shirabyōshi” for Japanese cell phones (DoCoMo, KDDI, SoftBank) will be released on September 1st, from a paysite Wa Hissatsu Dekori Nin (和☆筆殺デコリ人). Literally, Shirabyōshi means “white rhythm”, but was a name of the style of song-and-dance performance that had been popular from late Heian period(794-1185AD) to early Kamakura period(1185-1333AD). And the word also meant the performer who played it. They were mostly females and were high-class prostitutes, dressed in men’s attire (tate-eboshi hat, suikan garment, naga-bakama, tachi Japanese sword) carrying a hand fan called kawahori. As you can see, Yoshimi OHTANI successfully brought the beauty of Shirabyōshi back into the modern world!

“the fan moves slowly…and, the petal of the wisteria whirls.” (Yoshimi OHTANI)