This is actually 2 deliveries that arrived within a few weeks of each other. Most of these haven’t been identified yet so watch this apace! 🙂
This print is one of my favourites, because of the unusual composition and the story behind it. Read more in my dedicated post on the affair.
Kunichika: Ichikawa Sadanji I, Sawamura Gennosuke IV, Nakamura Fukusuke IV & Ichikawa Danjūrō IX in the play “Sanpu Gokō Utsusu Gentō” (三府五港写幻灯, “The Photographic Lantern of the Three Prefectures and the Five Ports”?), staged at the Shintomi-za theatre from 20th October 1887
This is yet another print from one of my favourite plays which I featured in this blog post.
Kunichika: Nakamura Sōjūrō, Nakamura Nakazō III, Ichikawa Danjūrō IX, Ichikawa Sadanji I & Onoe Kikunosuke II in the play “Okige no Kumo Harau Asagochi” (西南雲晴朝東風), staged at the Shintomi-za theatre from 23rd February 1878
This print is absolutely stunning and one of the best of its type I have ever seen. Prints with a Meiji red background and black and gold border (imitating a lacquer frame) were very common in the 1870s – in fact it became a bit of a design cliché. But this one has 3/4 length characters and a really thick border. It also have some really beautiful burnishing on the black kimonos too.
Kunichika: Nakamura Jusaburō III, Sawamura Tosshō II & Bando Hikosaburō V in the play “Naniwagata Irie no Ōshio” (浪花潟入江大塩, or 鹽), staged at the Murayama-za theatre from 10th of the seventh month 1872
The next print has a lovely picture-in-picture featuring the same actor playing both parts. I’d love to know more about the plot of this play!
Kunichika: Onoe Kikugorō V, ?Bandō kokorozashi u-chō?, Bandō Hikosaburō V & Nakamura Shikan IV in the play “Shinpan Ukina no Yomiuri” (新板色読販), staged at the Morita-za theatre from 16th May 1874
The next print is badly stained but I have never been able to get hold of a perfect version and they are quite rare so I plumped for this copy. I love the geometric backgrounds and picture-in-picture effects.
Kunichika: Bandō Mitsugorō VI, Ichimura Kakitsu IV & Sawamura Tosshō II in the play “Musume Hyoban Zen’aku Kagami” (処女評判善悪鏡), staged at the Ichimura-za theatre from 1st of the 8th month 1865Kunichika: Nakamura Nakazō III, Kawarasaki Gonnosuke VII (later Ichikawa Danjūrō IX), Nakamura ??? & Iwai Shijaku II in the play “Sono Omokage Kawara Nadeshiko” (其面影河原撫子), a variant of the play “Kirare Yosa”, staged at the Morita-za theatre from 15th of the fifth month 1871Ichikawa Kodanji V as Kinoshita Tōkichi & Nakamura Shikan IV as Ishikawa Goemon in the play “Sanmon Gosan no Kiri”, staged at the Hisamatsu-za theatre from November 1882Kunichika: Bandō Kakitsu I, Onoe Kikugorō V & Kataoka Gadō III in the play “Suibodai Shinshu no Mataroku” (酔菩提新酒又六), staged at the Chitose-za theatre from 5th October 1885Kunichika: Ichikawa Sadanji I, Nakamura Sōjūrō, Kawarasaki Sanshō, Onoe Kikugorō V & Nakamura Shikan IV in the mitate-e ’Azuma no Hana Itsutsukumi-ire’ (A Group of Five Flowers of the East), Sept 1873 to June 1874 (umbrellas)Kunichika: Nakamura Jusaburō III, Sawamura Tosshō II & Bando Hikosaburō V in the play “Naniwagata Irie no Ōshio” (浪花潟入江大塩, or 鹽), staged at the Murayama-za theatre from 10th of the seventh month 1872Kunichika: Nakamura Shikan IV, Sawamura Tanosuke III & Ōtani Tomotsu in the play “Kaidan Tsuki no Kasamori” (怪談月笠森, The Ghost Story of Kasamori in the Moonlight), staged at the Morita-za theatre from the 3rd of the eighth month of 1865Kunichika: Onoe Kikugorō V, Nakamura Fukusuke IV & Onoe Matsusuke IV in the play “Sashimonoshi Meijin Chōji” (指物師名人長次, “Master Cabinetmaker Chōji”), staged at the Shintomi-za theatre from October 1895Kunichika: Ichikawa Kōdanji V, Ichikawa Sadanji I & Sawamura Tosshō III in the premier of the play “Kurotegumi Kuruwa no Tatehiki” (黒手組曲輪達引), staged at the Meiji-za theatre from March 1899Kunisada III (Baidō Kunimasa): Sawamura Gennosuke IV, Ichikawa Kōdanji V, Ichikawa Danjūrō IX, Ichikawa Sadanji I & Nakamura Shikan IV in the play “Kibi Daijin Shina Monogatari “ (吉備大臣志那譚), staged at the Chitose-za theatre from the 20th of August 1887Kunisada III (Ōju Kōchōrō): Nakamura Fukusuke IV, Onoe Kikugorō V & Ichikawa Danjūrō IX in the play “Kurotegumi Tamuke no Shakuhachi” (黒手組手向尺八, a precursor to Mokuami’s “Kurotegumi no Sukeroku”), staged at the Kabuki-za theatre from 10th March 1893Ichikawa Udanji I, Suketakaya Takasuke IV, Ichikawa Sadanji I, Onoe Kikugorō V & Ichikawa Danjūrō IX in the play “Ginsekai Sumida no Hatsuyuki” (銀世界隅田初雪), staged at the Shintomi-za theatre from XXXth December 1882
