Miscellaneous prints of the game of ken,

Part I

Prints depicting the game of ken (拳) are called ken no e (拳の絵). Ken was often played as a drinking game and was incorporated into several kabuki plays as a dance. The prints with small figures illustrate the dance steps. After the imposition of a ban on actor prints in 1842, Kuniyoshi produced numerous humorous designs with thinly disguised actors’ portraits as animals or other objects. All the prints in this section are a size known as ôban (about 14 by 10 inches or 36 by 25 centimeters). Additional information about these prints may be found in the article: Linhart, Sepp, Kuniyoshi’s Ken Caricatures between 1847 and 1853, Andon, Vol. 83, 2008, pp. 5-29.

Similar to the following print but lacking the publisher’s and censor’s seals	Title: Ken Exercises (Ken no keiko) Description: Play: Norikake Soga dôchû sugoroku Date: 1^st month of 1847 Publisher: No seal Linhart: 1
	Title: Ken Exercises (Ken no keiko, けんのけいこ) Description: Play: Norikake Soga dôchû sugoroku Date: 2^nd month of 1847 (censors Mera and Murata) Publisher: Man (phonetic pronunciation of 万), possibly fake Linhart: 1a/10123 NOTE: This print is unsigned. The frog, fox, and tiger are believed to represent the kabuki actors Nakamura Utaemon IV, Matsumoto Kôshirô VI, and Ichikawa Kuzô II, respectively in the play Norikake Soga dôchû sugoroku.
	Title: Ken Exercises (Ken no keiko) Description: Dancing children Date: 2^nd month of 1847 Publisher: Wakasa-ya Yoichi Linhart: 3/10007
	Title: Strange Ken Figures (Dôke ken awase, 道化拳合) Description: Animals resemble Ichikawa Kuzô II (tiger), Nakamura Utaemon IV (toad), and Matsumoto Kôshirô VI (fox) Date: 2^nd month of 1847 (censors Mera and Murata) Publisher: Iba-ya Sensaburô Linhart: 4/10010
	Another state of the above design without the ground color. I am grateful to Marc DeVriese for this image.
	Another state of the above design with neither ground color nor the blue on top. I am grateful to Marc DeVriese for this image.
	Title: A Popular Three Man Play (Ryûkô mitsu byôshi) Description: Date: 2^nd month of 1847 (censors Mera and Murata) Publisher: Kazusa-ya Iwazô Linhart: 5/10011
	This is another state of the above print with a simplified design.
	Another state without any purple
	Title: Once Again the Frog Game (Aikawarazu kairu asobi) Description: Date: 3^rd month of 1847 Publisher: Sagin Linhart: 7/10012
	Title: Dôke ken nan de mo kan de mo Description: Fox, frog, tiger and bamboo Date: 3^rd month of 1847 Publisher: Ebi-ya Rinnosuke Linhart: 12/10008
	Another state of the above design
	Title: Comic Ken in Asakusa’s Okuyama (Dôke Asakusa Okuyama ken) Description: Enma, Shôzuka, and Asahina playing ken Date: 4^th month of 1847 Publisher: Yahata-ya Sakujirô Linhart: 13/10018
	Title: Comic ken zake at Okuyama in Asakusa (Asakusa Okuyama dôke kenzake) Description: Enma and Asahina playing the game of ken-zake Date: 4^th month of 1847 Publisher: Yahata-ya Sakujirô Linhart: 14/10006
	Title: Tsuku mono ken (つくものけん) Description: Actors Onoe Baikô IV as a swallow, Ichikawa Kuzô II as a shamisen, and Nakamura Utaemon IV as the tengu king with a sake cup on his forehead Date: 9^th month of 1847 Publisher: Iba-ya Sensaburô Linhart: 16/10019
	Title: Untitled Description: Sake bottle and cup Date: 9^th month of 1847 Publisher: Ebi-ya Rinnosuke Linhart: 17/10016
	Title: Irokurabe tsuku Description: Sake barrel and box Date: 9^th month of 1847 Publisher: Kawaguchi-ya Uhe Linhart: 18/10014
	Title: Hittsuku ken Description: Sake barrel and box Date: 9^th month of 1847 Publisher: Kawaguchi-ya Uhe Linhart: 19/10015
	Title: Tsuku tsuku ken (つくつくけん) Description: Sake can and cup Date: 9^th month of 1847 Publisher: Wakasa-ya Uhei Linhart: 20/10017
	Title: New Sticking Together Ken (Shinsaku tsukutsuku ken, 新作つく／＼けん) Description: Yoshitsune and the tengu king Date: 8^th month of 1847 Publisher: Iba-ya Kyûbei Linhart: 21/10013
	Title: A Ken Game for Good Fortune in the New Year of the Monkey (Iroma sarutoshi haru no kotobuki ocha no ko ken, 色真申歳 春の寿き お茶のこけん) Description: Actors Nakamura Utaemon IV depicted as pine, Ichikawa Kuzô II as a turtle, and Seki Sanjûrô III as a crane Date: 1^st month of 1848 (censors Hama and Kinugasa) Publisher: Ebisu-ya Shôshichi Linhart: 28/10020

“Linhart” refers to listing in the article ‘Kuniyoshi’s Ken Caricatures between 1847 and 1853’, by Sepp Linhart in Andon, Vol. 83, 2008, pp. 5-29

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