Comment - Intriguing Kabuki triptych featuring Onoe Kikugorō ("尾上菊五郎") as a Yakko-kite ("奴凧, "yakko-dako") or man kite, as is written in the red and white cassettes in the upper center of the right panel. Flying kites is a typical New Year's pasttime for boys. Onoe Kikugoro's yakko dress is therefore a New Year's Yakko-kite dance costume. The dress is for the role of Kumonnaju Shishin. Yakkos were low-ranking servants or footmen attached to high-ranking samurai. They traditionally wore a coat with a distinctive square crest, mostly not associated with any particular family. The yakko-dako shown here has risen into the sky with his outspread sleeves acting as wings.

The young man below him is Ichimura Kamezō (市村亀蔵) as Gorō Tokimune (五郎時致) the younger of the famous Soga Brothers (Soga Kyōdai, "曽我兄弟"). He holds a spool of white thread, frowning as he looks up. At left, Bandō Hikosaburō (坂東　彦三郎) as Soga Jūrō (曽我十郎), the elder Soga Brother, scowls at the man kite, raising one hand in the air. He wears a black kimono with a beautiful burnished geometric pattern and birds in flight. At right, a kabuki actor as a beauty may be Arashi Kitsusaburō -IV (嵐橘三郎). She smiles eagerly as she watches the kite, cradling a decorative hanetsuki racket in her arms, decorated with the Japanese flag symbol. Hanetsuki is an old fashioned Japanese version of badminton. Plum blossoms frame the sky overhead. Lively colored, detailed with embossing in the spool of thread and fine bokashi shading.

All actors names are written in the red cassettes, their roles are written in the adjoining white cassettes.


Series - ~


Artist - see Biography


Signature - "Kunichika hitzu" ("国周筆", "drawn by KUNICHIKA") on all panels (white cassettes) with his red ring seal (Otoshidama-in 年玉印).


Publisher - Tsujioka-ya Kamekichi (辻岡屋亀吉) Tsujikame Publisher's (辻亀板)


Image Size - 70.8 X  34.9 cm (13 3/4" x 27 7/8") + margins as shown


Condition - triptych, three single panels; nishiki-e (cloured woodblock); Vertical ôban (ôban tate-e);