Comment -  This woodblock print is a page from the Kabuki theatre magazine "Kabuki Shinpo No. 498". The front page leaflet shows an Edo kite with six actors of the featured kabuki play from 1885-04-01. Another edo kite (kanji-kite, ji-tako) shows the title of the play (not read). The text frames the kite in the foreground. A flower pot with sparse plants stays on the right side. The issue number of the magazine is written on the pot. A radish and small toys are to be seen in the background.
Behind the big edo-kite in front, maybe another edo-kite. That edo-kite peeks out under the upper tension-line of the large kite. You only can see it's bamboo-edges an the tension-line.


Series - Kabuki theatre magazine "Kabuki Shinpo No. 498" from 1885-04-01; 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 (Kabuki shinpō sha), was based in Tokyo.


Artist - see Biography


Signature - none


Publisher - SHOZABURO Ito (庄三郎 伊藤)


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