I don’t have the synopsis for this play but it seems to have been a very popular play based on the book “Meijin Choji: Joiner”…

I really love this print because it sums up the Meiji period very nicely – a traditional play “Kyō Ningyō (Kyōto Doll)” has been updated…

Suitengū Megumi no Fukagawa (also called “Kōbē Fudeya”) was one of the so-called “Cropped Hair Plays (zangirimono) portraying “modern” Meiji Tokyo and the people living…

Dōjōji Ittsui no Furisode (“The Maiden at Dōjō Temple”) is another classic kabuki dance play based on an 18th century Nō play simply called “Dōjōji”.…

Yowa Nasake Ukina no Yokogushi often called just “Kirare Yosa” or “Yasu the Bat” is another traditional classic of the kabuki repertoire but, ironically, the…

Soga Monogatari is another very simple story that has spawned many variants and is a classic tale of revenge. Soga Jūrō and Soga Gorō are…

Shinza the Barber is one of my favourites of the modern Meiji plays. It is a classic kabuki story of love, abduction, trickery and revenge…

The two plays “Kagamiyama Kokyō no Nishikie” (1783) and “Kagamiyama Gonichi no Iwafuji” (1860) are together a classic story of revenge in the women’s quarters…

Kanjinchō is one of the kabuki classics – a staple of any actor and all of the theatres. It is a very compact play with…

Although Chūshingura isn’t a name that most people in the West would recognise but I’m sure they would have heard of the story of the…

Sukeroku is another classic kabuki play – something that is always on the repertoire in Tokyo. For the lead performer it is an Otokodate role…

In my previous article, on the play Okige no kumo harau Asagochi, I covered one of the most successful of the modern Meiji plays staged…

“Okige no kumo harau Asagochi” (“The Morning East Wind Clearing the Clouds of the Southwest“, 西南雲晴朝東風) is one of my favourite plays in yakusha-e prints,…

The first image is a really unusual ōkubi-e (big-headed print) and I was very lucky to be able to purchase it because this sub-genre is…

This unassuming print features another nice conflict between the traditional kimonos worn on either side and the western hat and metal-spoked umbrella held by the…

This was a pre-Christmas delivery of interesting yakusha-e prints from the Japanese auctions.  This print is a classic scene from a famous play called “Kiwametsuki…

This 1887 print features Ichikawa Danjūrō IX as the central figure, a lion dancer – accompanied in the dance by his butterfly attendants. It is…

This striking 1883 series is called “The Popularity of the Upstairs Dressing Room”) 楽屋 二階 影 評判, featuring famous actors of the time being dressed.…