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MASAMITSU Ota. (1892-1975)
Ichikawa Ennosuke as Akutaro. 1949.
- Category
- Japanese | Actors And Kabuki
- Series
- Showa butai sugata.
- Publisher
- Banchoro. Limited ed. No.108.
dai ōban tate-e, 28.5 cm × 41.5 cm
Excellent impression, colour and condition. The light presentation folding line along the left edge is normal with this series.
The actor Ichikawa Ennosuke strikes a defiant pose, clenching a halberd that creates the backdrop of a crescent moon. He plays the eponymous and often inebriated scoundrel, Akutarô. The comic dance-play was adapted from a Noh Kyôgen for the Kabuki stage by Okamura Shikô with choreography and music by Hanaygai Jusuke II and Kneya Sakichi IV, and premiered at the Ichimusara Theatre in June 1924. By 1949, the shadows and soft lighting of the early Kabuki stage were replaced with electric light and the fine printing captures the transformation with precise line work, saturated colours and subtle shading on the costume.
Signed Masamitsu with artist seal. Series title, role and actor name in the right margin. Publishing/copyright in the lower left. Embossed 108 limited edition bottom left.
£500
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KUNISADA I/TOYOKUNI III (1786-1865)
Actors in role. 10/1858
- Category
- Japanese | Actors And Kabuki
- Publisher
oban diptych, 53.0 cm × 36.0 cm
Very good impression, colour and condition.
The actors Ichikawa Ebizō V as Saimyōji Tokiyori, Asao Yoroku II as Izumobo and Ichikawa Kodanji IV as Umashi Toroku in a Kabuki adaptation of the drama "The Potted Trees". Lord Kamakura (Saimyōji Tokiyori) travels his lands disguised as a priest and seeks to reinstate the mistreated lord, Sano Ganzaemon, with the legitimate repossession of his stolen lands. Saimyōji Tokiyori clutches a chest and his rosary beads by a fire. His servant Izumobo is wearing kneepads from chopping the wood to kindle the fire, the sub-zero temperatures evident from their frozen noses.
Signed Toyokuni ga.
£320
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YOSHITAKI Utagawa. 1841-1899
Shini-e of Jitsukawa Enzaburô II. 1872.
- Category
- Japanese | Actors And Kabuki
- Publisher
- n/a
chuban tate-e , 17.4 cm × 25.2 cm
Excellent impression, colour and very good condition. A deluxe printing with mica (kirazuri) in the sky, lacquer (visible on the black collar/obi), gold and silver pigments; his eulogy is written in gold ink to the right.
A shini-e (memorial portrait) to commemorate the premature death of the actor Jitsukawa Enzaburô II, who died aged twenty-four in Osaka on the seventh of the tenth lunar month, 1872. He stands before the silhouetted Osaka night skyline holding rosary beads and a lotus leaf for protection in Buddhist prayer and invocation. The falling "prunus" cherry petals are a poignant and symbolic reminder of the transience of life.
£260
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Toyokuni III/Utagawa KUNISADA (1786-1864)
Bando Hikosaburo V as 'Rinchū likened to Shirōsaburō' 1859.
- Category
- Japanese | Actors And Kabuki
- Series
- Tōsei suikoden.
- Publisher
- Hayashiya Shōgorō
oban tate-e, 24.5 cm × 36.5 cm
Very good impression, colour and condition.
A bust portrait of the actor Bandō Hikosaburō V wearing a magnificent kimono, decorated with a hawk in flight over pine trees. The actor reaches for his sword and his outstretched arm reveals a cherry blossom tattoo. He is imitating the tattoo of Hyoshito Rinchu (Lin Chong trans: head of the leopard) in the story Suikoden, based on the classical Chinese novel Shui Hu Zhuan (Outlaws of the Marsh). The night sky and silhouetted bamboo stalks provide a muted backdrop to this dynamic design.
Signed 'ni konomi Toyokuni ga'
£290