The game of ken,

Part I

Prints depicting the game of ken are called ken no e. Ken was often played as a drinking game and was incorporated into several kabuki plays as a dance. The prints with small human 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 creatures playing ken. Also included in this section are prints of scenes from these plays that do not show either dancing or playing ken. All the prints reproduces in this section are either single ôban (about 14 by 10 inches or 36 by 25 centimeters) or composed of more than one ôban sheet placed side-by-side. 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: 1847 Publisher: No seal Linhart: 1
	Title: Ken Exercises (Ken no keiko) Description: Play: Norikake Soga dôchû sugoroku Date: 2^nd month of 1847 Publisher: Unidentified and probably 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.
	Title: Ken Exercises (Ken no keiko) Description: Actors Nakamura Utaemon IV, Ichikawa Kuzô II, and Matsumoto Kôshirô VI playing ken Date: 1847 Publisher: Fake seal Linhart: 2/10124 NOTE: This print is unsigned
	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) Description: Date: 2^nd month of 1847 Publisher: Iba-ya Sensaburô Linhart: 4/10010
	Another state of the above print in which the green ink has been replaced with blue
	Title: A Popular Three Man Play (Ryûkô mitsu byôshi) Description: Date: 2^nd month of 1847 Publisher: Kazusa-ya Iwazô Linhart: 5/10011
	This is another state of the above print with a simplified design. Linhart: Not listed
	Title: Totetsuru ken hitori keiko Description: Three actors in female roles (onnagata) are playing the game of kitsune-ken Date: 5^th month of 1847 Publisher: Jôshû-ya Kinzô Linhart: 6/10009
	Title: Once Again the Frog Game (Aikawarazu kairu asobi) Description: Date: 3^rd month of 1847 Publisher: Sagin Linhart: 7/10012
	Title: Ataru ken kurabe Description: Three actors as fishermen Date: 3^rd month of 1847 Publisher: Nomura-ya Tokubei Linhart: 8/10063
	Title: Dôke Daruma ken Description: Actors Nakamura Utaemon IV (right), Ichikawa Kuzô II (center) and Matsumoto Kôshirô VI (left) playing ken. Image courtesy of Richard Illing Date: 3^rd month of 1847 Publisher: Hori Masa Linhart: 11/10073 NOTE: This print is from the series “Daruma’s Buffoonery” (Dôke Daruma asobi) which is listed as number 191 in Kuniyoshi by Basil William Robinson (Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1961).
	Title: Dôke ken nan de mo kan de mo Description: Fox, frog, tiger and bamboo Date: 3^rd month of 1847 Publisher: Ebi-iya Rinnosuke (Kaijudô) of Horeichô Linhart: 12/10008
	Another state of the above print
	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: Hachi 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: Hachi Linhart: 14/10006
	Title: Tsuku mono ken 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 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) Description: Yoshitsune and the tengu king Date: 8^th month of 1847 Publisher: Iba-ya Kyûbei (Kinseidô) Linhart: 21/10013
	Title: Iroma sarutoshi haru no kotobuki ocha no ko ken 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 Publisher: Ebisu-ya Shôshichi Linhart: 28/10020
	Title: Untitled Description: Actor Nakamura Utaemon IV Date: 1^st month of 1848 Publisher: Tada Linhart: 29/10147
	Title: Hôrai-ken Description: Actors Nakamura Utaemon IV, Ichikawa Kuzô II, and Seki Sanjûrô III playing ken Date: 2^nd month of 1848 Publisher: Yamamoto-ya Heikichi (Eikyûdô) Linhart: 30/10144
	Title: Three Countries’ Ken (Sangoku ken, 三国券) Description: Actors Nakamura Utaemon IV, Ichimura Uzaemon XII and Seki Sanjûrô III in the roles of Morokoshi Kôshi, Tenjiku Shaka and Nippon Daijingû playing ken Date: 12^th month of 1848 Publisher: Fujioka-ya Keijirô Linhart: 31/10041
	Title: Three Countries’ Ken (Sangoku ken, 三国券) Description: Actors Nakamura Utaemon IV as Nippon Daijingû (the goddess Amaterasu from Japan), Ichimura Uzaemon XII as Morokoshi Kôshi (Confucius from China), and Seki Sanjûrô III as Tenjiku Shaka (Shakayamuni, the historical Buddha from India) playing ken Date: 1^st month of 1849 Publisher: Ômi-ya Heihachi Linhart: 32/10035
	Another state of the above print with altered text
	Title: Three Countries’ ken (Sangoku ken) Description: Animals playing ken Date: 1st month of 1849 Publisher: Ôta-ya Takichi Linhart: 33/10027
	Title: Three Countries’ ken (Sangoku ken) Description: Animals playing ken Date: 1st month of 1849 Publisher: Ôta-ya Takichi Linhart: 34/10028

“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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