Yoshitaki Utagawa, Kabuki Theatre, Hakkenden, Set of 9 Prints
Artist: Yoshitaki Utagawa (1841-1899)
Title: Kabuki play, Hakkenden
Date: 1870
Size: 18 x 25 cm (average)
Original Japanese woodblock print.
Set in the tumultuous Sengoku, Hakkenden is the story of eight samurai half-brothers — all of them descended from a dog and bearing the word 'dog' in their surnames — and their adventures, with themes of loyalty and family honor, as well as Confucianism, bushido and Buddhist philosophy.
One of the direct inspiration sources of the novel is the fourteenth to seventeenth-century Chinese epic novel 'Water Margin'. These prints are for a kabuki version of Hakkenden, performed in Osaka in 1870.
Yoshitaki Utagawa
As a printmaker, Yoshitaki worked both in Edo and Osaka. Yoshitaki was the most prolific designer of woodblock prints in Osaka from the 1860s to the 1880s, producing more than 1,200 different prints, almost all of kabuki actors.
| Print Format | Chuban |
|---|---|
| Artist | Yoshitaki Utagawa |
| Subject | Kabuki Theatre, Kamigata-e/Osaka-e |
| Dimensions | 18 x 25 cm (average) |
| Condition Report | Misprinting, minor creases, some colours oxidised, minor stains on the back due to old glue, paper residue on the back. |
| Folders | In Store, BC |
| Location | Event VS |
