He is seen under a branch of autumn maple leaves printed in rose. The ground on which he stands and the rock behind him are in faded yellow.
This is the second sheet of a pentaptych, and as in the preceding print there is an inscription giving both the actor’s professional name and his nickname Kumajū, which is an abbreviation of his personal name, Kumajūrō. On the rock at the left of this print and the right of number 94 is written in large characters the name of Sanekata, whose ghost is shown in the adjoining sheet, number 96.
There are two known impressions. The one which we reproduce appears in the Vignier-Inada Catalogue, number 300, Rumpf number 109, Noguchi and the dealer’s advertisement to which we have referred so often. The other, which is wider on the left, is reproduced by Kurth and by Nakata.
Hosoye. Untinted ground with decoration of maple leaves. Signed: Sharaku.
The Art Institute of Chicago (Buckingham Collection).
96
Ichikawa Yaozō III as a birdseller, really the ghost of Chūjo Sanekata.
He wears a kimono of green and white and an under garment of faded rose. On the faded light blue sleeveless outer garment there is a design of birds in red-brown, and this tone appears again in the cap. The foreground is faded pale yellow; the maple leaves above are in faded rose.
This is the central sheet of a five-sheet set. The two that come on its left are numbers 94 and 95.
The impression illustrated in the dealer’s advertisement referred to above had an inscription giving the actor’s name, Yaozō, as well as a
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