Fukubiki Kuchinamari-e

US$485.00

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福引口訛絵 [Fukubiki Kuchinamari-e, “A Lottery Illustration of Provincialisms”]

Nagoya, Aichi: Tsukamoto Sutesaburō, [ca. Meiji 37 (1904)].

This print depicting famous figures of the early 1900s may have been used as a paper "board" game for gambling. The illustration uses a bright red pigment characteristic of Meiji period prints and features military figures from the Russo-Japanese War such as Stepan Makarov, Aleksey Kuropatkin, and the Marquis Tōgō Heihachirō alongside actors like Sawamura Tosshi (as the samurai Suzuki Mondo) and Ichikawa Metora (as Osato, daughter of Yazaemon, in the play Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura (performed at the Tōkyō-za in June 1904)). While prints like this were often printed on very thin, light brown paper which was cheap to produce and prone to tears, this particular example has miraculously survived the last century with no such damage. Prints on this particular type of paper in such nice condition are elusive. No records located in OCLC.

One colour woodblock-printed leaf, complete. Fairly roughly printed, red pigment encroaching on right margin. Fine for age. 23.8 x 32.5 cm. Text in Japanese.

Fukubiki Kuchinamari-e
Price: $485.00 (USD)