Actors Jitsukawa Enzaburo I and Hosokawa Kizunosho and Arashi Kichisaburo III as Minbunosuke Shoetsu, at Hosokawa Mansion, from the play Nazoraete Yuki no Kukusui

Artist Utagawa Yoshitaki (Japanese, 1841–1899)

Date1861

MediumDiptych: Kamigata color woodblock prints

Dimensions9 15/16 × 14 1/4 inches (25.2 × 36.2 cm)

ClassificationsPrints

Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Libertson

Terms

Prints
Color woodblock print
Japanese

Object number2012.048.031

Label CopyOsaka was the second most important center of woodblock print publishing in Japan, after Edo (modern Tokyo), and likewise supported a thriving Kabuki theater. Osaka designers developed their own distinctive tradition of actor prints and Yoshitaki, the son of a paste merchant, became one of the most accomplished and prolific artists of kamigata in the late nineteenth century.

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