A kabuki-themed haikai surimono

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[A kabuki-themed haikai surimono]

[Shibata], Zeshin [illustrated by].

[Japan: publisher unidentified, Meiji 14 [1881].

A surimono by acclaimed artist Shibata Zeshin (1807-1891) featuring poems by kabuki actors and illustrated with an actor surrounded by wigs. The surimono was produced to celebrate the name-change (shūmei) of the actor Sawamura Hyakunosuke to Sawamura Tanosuke IV (1857-1899) in 1881. Tanosuke's simultaneous rise to the position of a leading onnagata (actor playing female roles) is reflected in the wigs for female roles in Zeshin's illustration. The kabuki actors who contributed poems to this surimono include (but are not limited to) Ichikawa Danjurō, Ichikawa Udanji, Ichikawa Sadanji, Nakamura Fukusuke, Onoe Kikugorō, Nakamura Sōjirō, Bandō Kakitsu, Nakamura Nakazō, Ichikawa Kuzō, Morita Kanya, and Sawamura Tanosuke. A Tokyo-centric haikai surimono featuring poems from a range of famous actors. A bright, untrimmed specimen. 

One leaf, woodblock printed on one side, complete. Original folds from when the leaf was delivered to its original recipient. Very minor bleeding of red pigment. Light creases, slight wear to extremities. 42.9 x 55.2 cm.

A kabuki-themed haikai surimono
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