Utagawa Kunisada (aka Toyokuni III)
Japanese (1786 – 1865) Primary

Actors Bandō Shūka [I] (坂東しうか / 坂東志うか), and Ichikawa Danjūrō [VIII] (市川 団十郎 in the Roles Kotō no Naishi jitsuha Chie kitsune (勾当ノ内侍 実ハ千枝狐) - Kotō no Naishi (Actually the Fox Chie), Eishi Goromata (衛士五郎又

Edo
ca. 1847 - ca. 1852

Sheet
14 1/2 x 9 7/8 in. (36.83 x 25.083 cm)

This object has the following keywords:

• actors - Persons who use movement, gesture, facial expressions, speaking, and intonation to create a fictional character for the stage, motion pictures, or television.
• Actors--Portraits
• diptychs - Refers to works comprising pairs of panels hinged together. They were used by the ancient Romans for writing tablets, often having images on the outer surfaces. In Medieval and later times, they were used primarily to support images for altarpieces and other purposes, most often composed of carved ivory or of painted wood panels, with the primary images on the interior surfaces.
• edged weapons - Weapons featuring a sharp edge or point for cutting, thrusting, clubbing, slashing, or various combinations thereof.
• Edo - Refers to the period and style that developed from the unification of Japan in 1600 until the end of the shogunal dynasty in 1868. During this period, economic expansion encouraged the rise of an educated merchant class who created their own forms of literature and theater as well as new schools of painting and woodblock printing. A wide diversity of pictorial subjects and styles developed during this period and many 19th century Western artists were influenced by them.
• foxes - General term referring to various members of the family Canidae, especially those of the genus Vulpes, such as the red or common, fox (V. vulpes), which lives in both the Old World and the New World. Several other foxes belong to genera other than Vulpes, including the North American gray fox, the Arctic fox, and the the bat-eared fox, and the crab-eating fox. Foxes resemble small dogs, with pointed snouts, large ears, and bushy tails.
• hand mirrors - Small mirrors set in frames which have projecting handles, used mainly at a dressing table.
• Kabuki
• kimonos - Loose, wide-sleeved garments fastened around the waist with an obi or broad sash, traditionally worn by Japanese men and women.
• nishiki-e - Japanese prints in which numerous blocks are used to print many colors.
• oban - Japanese prints of a standard size about 15 3/4 by 10 1/2 inches.
• plays - Dramatic or theatrical performances staged by actors before an audience; acted representations of an action or story.
• Ukiyo-e - Distinctive genre in painting and other media, but most prominently in woodblock printing. It arose in the Edo period (1600-1868) and built up a broad popular market among the middle classes. Subject matter typically focused on brothel districts and kabuki theatres, with formats ranging from single sheet prints to book illustrations. Generally, the style is characterized by a mixture of the realistic narrative of the Kamakura period and the mature decorative style of the Momoyama and Edo periods. Distinctive styles and specialties in subject matter were developed by different schools throughout the period.
• Utagawa, Kunisada, 1786-1864 - Sources:
  - His Kunisada, 1966.
  - Kunisada, 1993:
  - Mirror of the stage, 1996:
  - Hayashi, Y. Utagawa Kunisada
  - JapanKnowledge Lib, May 9, 2017
  - Shinpan kabuki jiten/JapanKnowledge Lib, viewed May 9, 2017
  - Web NDL authorities, May 9, 2017
  - LC database, May 9, 2017
• woodcuts - Prints made using the process of woodcut, which is a relief process in which the design is cut into and printed from the plank side of a wood block; distinct from "wood engraving (process)," which is a relief process using the grain end of a wood block.