Comment - 'Man Riding a Kite' - Incredible image of a man riding an enormous hawk shaped kite ("tonbi dako", "鳶凧"). He peers down at the ground below, raising one hand to his eyes as he holds the kite string with his other. The children below seem oblivious to him, walking and playing, two young boys at left racing around a toy cat. The girls at right hold hands as they stroll along, a mother behind them carrying her child on her back. A bamboo branch at right is adorned with colorful slips of paper for the Tanabata Festival. The hawk shaped kite and figure extending above the top border of the image.

Chikanobu's series "Stories by Bakin" is based on tales by the Edo-era writer Kyokutei BAKIN (曲亭 馬琴). The author is perhaps best known for his novel "The Eight Dog Heroes of the Satomi Clan of Nanso", but he wrote many works based on samurai themes, focusing on honor and family loyalty. Published from 1890-1891, these great images feature Chikanobu's characteristic attention to detail, with creative compositions and vibrant color, including deluxe printing techniques such as embossing and burnishing. A very rarely seen series. The title in the lower part of the rectangle cassette (upper left). The poem (square cassette, upper left) is not read.

Two woodblocks depicting this story are also to be seen at Kunisada's woodblock prints "Actors Nakamura Tsurusuke as Musôhyôe and Ichikawa Ichizô as his Footman as Yakko Kite" (or "Dream of a Palace Guardsman") and "Kite Flying Triptych".


Series - Stories by Bakin (Bakin chojutsu, 馬琴著述); series title is in the upper part of the cassette (upper left)


Artist - see Biography


Signature - Yōshū Chikanobu (Yōshū Chikanobu, 楊洲周延) on the lower left;


Publisher - Morimoto Junzaburō (森本順三郎), Entai-dō Publisher's (円泰堂)


Image Size - 22.9 x 37.5 cm   ( 9" x 13 1/4" + margins as shown)


Condition - single panel; nishiki-e (cloured woodblock); Vertical ôban (ôban tate-e); backed with stiff paper