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

Right Panel of a Diptych; Iwai Kumesaburo II as Okaru, in Act VII, 'Gion Ichiriki Jaya', of the play 'Kanadehon Chushingura' by Takeda Izumo II

Edo
1825

Sheet
14 7/8 x 10 in. (37.783 x 25.4 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.
• 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.
• Kabuki
• Kabuki
• kimonos - Loose, wide-sleeved garments fastened around the waist with an obi or broad sash, traditionally worn by Japanese men and women.
• ladders - Frames, usually of wood or metal, consisting of two side pieces called stiles which are connected by crosspieces, usually round, called rungs; used as a means of climbing up or down.
• 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.