Kuniyoshi - Actor Ichikawa Danjiro VIII Memorial Portrait

Utagawa Kuniyoshi 

無款 嘉永七甲寅年八月六日猿白院成清日田信士行

"Like most shini-e or memorial prints this one is unsigned by the artist. Many scholars, collectors, dealers and museums have ascribed this print to Kuniyoshi. The weeping cat is one of the reasons many scholars believe this print may be by him. One site, Waseda University, says it is by Yoshimune, Kuniyoshi's pupil. Many sites online list this print as 'Artist unknown'. Therefore, until something absolute is found the attribution will be anyone's guess - even though stylistically it does look like a Kuniyoshi composition.

Even the cat is weeping, There is an interesting curiosity at the bottom of this print: a weeping cat. While this might not leap out at you as particularly significant and may only appear to be a 'nice' touch, it is surprisingly more important than at first glance. Why? Because the cat was popularly believed to have been the only animal that didn't weep over the death of the historic Buddha."

Much thanks to the Lyon Collection for the description above. https://woodblockprints.org/index.php/Detail/objects/441

Note: Photo from the museum show "Japanese Prints in Transition: From the Floating World to the Modern World" at the famsf.org show in San Francisco.

Date: 1856

Condition: Not backed, pinholes on right border, dirt and wrinkles around edges as shown.