Select Series of Book Titles

(Mitate gedai zukushi, 見立外題盡)

Publisher: Iba-ya Sensaburô

1847-1848

This series of kabuki actor prints is listed as number 159 in Kuniyoshi by Basil William Robinson (Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1961). Each panel in this series is about 14 by 10 inches (36 by 25 centimeters), a size known as ôban.

Actors: Nakamura Utaemon IV as Saitô Tarozaemon (斎藤太郎左エ門, left) and Onoe Baikô IV as Uma-gashira’s wife Hanazono (右馬頭妻花園, right)

Play: Ôtô no miya Ashi no Yoroi (大塔宮曦鎧)

Date: 7^th month of 1847

Theater: Kawarasaki

Actors: Left sheet: Nakamura Utaemon IV as Taira Tomomori (新中納言知盛) and Matsumoto Kinshô I as 相模五郎 (inset)

Right sheet: Ichikawa Kuzô II as Yoshitsune (義経, inset), unidentified child actor as Emperor Antoku (安徳天皇), and Onoe Baiko IV as Suke no tsubone (すけの局)

Play: Yoshitsune Senbon zakura (義経千本桜)

Date: 9^th month of 1847

Theater: Kawarasaki

Actors: Iwai Kumesaburô III as Kiyokawa (清川, left) and Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII as Karigane Bunshichi (雁金文七, right)

Play: This diptych is a mitate, meaning that these actors did not perform these roles together on stage.

Date: 1848

Actors: Left sheet: Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII as Chichibu Shoji Shigetada (秩父重忠)

Right sheet: Onoe Tamizô II as Iwanaga Saemon Munetsura (岩永左衛門) and Onoe Kikujirô II as Akoya (あこや)

Play: Dan no Ura kabuto Gunki (壇浦兜軍記)

Date: 8^th month of 1847

Theater: Nakamura

I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this image.

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