Background
The play's title may be translated as "A flock of plovers and the white waves of the whirpool,"
possibly providing a clue to the location depicted in Ashiyuki's design. One area notorious for its whirlpools
(naruto) was the narrow strait between Awa (on Shikoku Island) and the smaller Awaji Island. Ashiyuki designed at least six compositions for this production (see IBKYS-I, nos. 229-234, in the Bibliography).
Design
Onami is shown clinging precariously to a rock along the shore. She wields a mollusc-scraping tool while plovers
(chidori) fly overhead. Her kimono features bamboo and incense coil motifs. Only on rare occasions do we find print designs that reveal the stagecraft involved in mounting a play, and here
we have a kind of "double exposure." In addition to the stagehand seen covered in a camouflage headscarf
(partly blending in with the lower wave pattern) — he appears to be fanning bubbles to simulate ocean spray
— Ashiyuki also clearly shows the boards holding up the partition representing the first line of waves.
References: IBKYS-I, no. 234; KNZ, no. 313; IKB-I, no. 2-391; KNP-6, p. 125
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