Fashionable Cat Frolics

(Ryûkô neko no tawamure, 流行猫の戯)

Publisher: Yamamoto-ya Heikichi

1847

This series of unknown size shows actors as cats. Kuniyoshi was especially fond of cats and inserted them in many of his prints. This series is listed as number 197 in Kuniyoshi by Basil William Robinson (Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1961). The prints in this series are each about 14 by 10 inches (36 by 25 centimeters), a size known as ôban.

	Title: Michiyuki neko yanagi sakari no tsukikage Description:
	Title: The Scene in which the Insult with a Sandal Serves as a Perfect Trap (Kagamiyana zôri haji no dan, かゞみやな 草履恥の段) Description: Cats reenacting the kabuki scene in which Iwafuji strikes Onoe with her zôri sandal. In this print, an abalone shell replaces the sandal. The kimono are labelled with names Onoe (尾の上) and Iwabuchi (岩ぶち), a pun, as “buchi” means a bicolored cat.
	Title: Umegae mugen no mane (梅が枝無間の真似) Description: A parody (mitate) of a scene in the fourth act of the kabuki play, Simple Chronicle of the Fortunes of the Heike and Genji (Hiragana seisuiki). In the play, Genta Kagesue strikes a stone water basin and is showered with gold coins, which are thrown by his concealed mother.
	Title: Tamoto funki kogoto zeme no dan Description:
	Title: Oshun Denbei Mi no kusasa sakari no irodoki Description: Two cats representing kabuki actors Nakamura Utaemon IV and Onoe Baikô as the lovers Denpei and Oshun. The object in the right lower corner is a mirror on a stand.
	The cartouche in this series is in the form of a gold coin, or a form of money intermediate between a coin and an ingot. Pictured to the left is an ôban from 1592 (in the Tensho period). It is 74% gold. The small denomination in this shape is called a koban. The terms ôban and koban are also used for large and small ukiyo-e prints, respectively.

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