The Actors Matsumoto Koshiro IV as Ukita Sakingo and Sawamura Sojuro III as the ghost of the courtesan Takao, in the play "Ominaeshi Sugata no Hatsuaki," performed at the Nakamura Theater, 1788 1788

This woodblock print by Torii Kiyonaga from 1788, now at the Art Institute of Chicago, portrays actors in the play "Ominaeshi Sugata no Hatsuaki". Note the figure of the courtesan Takao, a ghost, with her fan. The fan, traditionally a symbol of status and beauty, here takes on a spectral quality. We see it, again and again, across cultures – a seemingly innocuous object, yet charged with meaning, adapted to fit stories of love and loss. Consider how Ophelia, in Hamlet, appears with flowers, each carrying its own symbolic weight, mirroring the fan's loaded presence in this Japanese print. These symbols are non-linear; they resurface, evolve, and take on new meanings, perpetually engaging us on a subconscious level.