Kuniyoshi: Asukai Masatsune

Kuniyoshi

Actor: Nakamura Utaemon IV (front). Scene: fox-woman and fox-man in snow. From the play: Yoshinoyamayuki no furugoto. Take-offs Based on the Ogura [Version] of the One Hundred Poets. The set is composed by Hiroshige, Kuniyoshi and Kunisada. Kunisada designed 14 prints, Hiroshige 35 prints, and Kuniyoshi designed 51 prints.

Each print compares one of the poems from the most-beloved collection of Japanese poetry, The One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each, with a scene from Japanese history or theatre. Begun during the repressive Tenpō Reforms, the series includes many surreptitious portraits of popular actors.


Date: 1847

Publisher: Ibaya Sensaburō

Condition: Not backed, embossing, good impression, some fading, borders as shown.

You can find the text of the "hundred poems" and an English translation under:
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/japanese/hyakunin/index.html