Comment -  This woodblock print is a page from the Kabuki theatre magazine "Kabuki Shinpo No. 117-2". The front page leaflet shows an Yakko kite with its three bridle lines, obviously the picture of an actor of the featured kabuki play from 1881-04-01. Below him is a Hanetsuki rack with the picture of a female actor. The five feathered shuttlecock is above the rack. Below is a ball to be seen. Several flower arrangements adorn the background. A large text cassette contains the name of the Kabuki performance and frames the frontispice with the Yakko kite and the Hagoita rack.


Series - Kabuki theatre magazine "Kabuki Shinpo No. 117-2 " from 1881-04-01; Author: Kanagaki Robun (仮名垣 魯文). Kabuki shinpō (歌舞伎新報, "Kabuki news") was a Kabuki theatre magazine.The leaflets contain Kabuki scripts, backstage stories, and casual conversations. The leaflet magazine was in circulation between 1879 and 1897. The publishing house was based in Tokyo.


Artist - see Biography


Signature - none


Publisher - Kubota Hikosaku (久保田彥作) from Kin’eidō publishers (Tokyo)


Image Size - 15.4×22.5 cm  (6 7/64" x 8 55/64")


Condition - Woodblock print; ink and color on paper, singled out sheet from an e-hon (illustrated book, a kabuki theatre magazine) Yotsugiri format