Utagawa Kunisada III (=Baidô Kunimasa IV, 1848-1920)
A shikake-e or a kawari-e (trick-or folding-picture). The inside of the Nakamura Theatre in Tokio fully occupied with visitors. Behind the foldable stage curtain are six more folding-pictures with different scenes of a kabuki drama about the life of the priest Nichiren (1222-1282), founder of the buddhist sect named after him.
Title: Nakamura-za Shin-Kyôgen Kawari-e (Trick-picture of a new Kabuki drama in the Nakamura Theatre)
Signature: Baidô Kunimasa hitsu
Publisher: Fukuda Kumajirô (Gusokuya), Tokio
Date: Meiji 19, 10th month, 22. day (October 22, 1886)
Size: Oban, 23,3 x 34,5 cm
Very fine print and colours. The margins minimally trimmed, some minor creases. Very fine condition. At the upper margin an old handwriting „Théatre Nakamouraza, à Tokyo“. Very rare! Kawari-e (trick- or folding-pictures) are rarely found complete and in such good condition. Some kawari-e by Kunimasa IV (a master of this genre) are depicted on the website of the Japan Art Council; no. 13-132 (which dates of the year 1885 and shows the Chitose theatre) uses the same technique as this print
sold