Actor triptychs, diptychs and unserialized single
sheets
|
Kuniyoshi
designed hundreds of triptychs and diptychs of kabuki actors. Titles of
Edo era kabuki plays are
problematic because of the lack of copyright laws. Successful productions were performed in
different theaters with various titles, and popular characters often
reappeared in entirely different plays.
Prints depicting identifiable productions can be dated from theater
records. Date seals started appearing
on prints in 2nd intercalary month* of 1852, but there is
occasionally a one-month discrepancy between the seals and theater
records. Unless otherwise noted, the
individual panels are each about 14 by 10 inches (36 by 25 centimeters), a
size known as ôban. Additional kabuki prints may be found in the section, Polyptychs of
four or more sheets. I am grateful
to Ward Pieters for assisting with this section. |
Prints identified as to performance and/or month
|
Actor prints were banned by the “Tenpô reforms”. |
Unidentified prints
|
Prints published between 1815
and the 11th month of 1846 generally bear a single circular
censor’s seal without an oval date seal. |
|
|
Prints published between the 12th
month of 1846 and the 2nd month of 1852 generally bear two
circular censor’s seals without an oval date seal. |
|
|
Prints published between the 12th
month of 1853 and the 11th month of 1857 generally bear a single
circular censor’s seal reading aratame (改,
inspected) and an oval date seal. |
*An extra month inserted between the 2nd
and 3rd months in the same manner as an extra day is added to a leap
year
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