Description
Beautiful woodblock print of vertical large oban (大判) format made by the famous artist Utagawa Kunisada (歌川国貞) and depicting the actor Kawarazaki Gonjuro I (初代河原崎権十郎) playing the role of the warrior Kazusanosuke (上総之介).
The print was produced by the publisher Iseya Kanekichi (伊勢屋兼吉), with the collaboration of the carver Matsushima Masakichi (松島政吉) who signs himself “Matsushima Hori Masa” (松島彫政), on the occasion of the staging, on January 1863, of the play “Tamakushige Akebono Soga” (宝九字匣曙曽我) at the kabuki theater Nakamura-za (中村座) in Edo (江戸).
The woodcut on Japanese washi paper (和紙), which the artist signs “Nanajuhassai Toyokuni hitsu” (七十八歳豊国筆) and which bears the seal of the censor “Boar 1 aratame” (亥正改), despite the presence of small restorations on binding holes, is in very good general condition.
