Untitled

Utagawa Kunisada

1863 (5th month) · Woodblock print; ink and color on paper · Asian Art

The Chinese vernacular novel known as the Shuihu Zhuan (Suikoden in Japanese), relating the adventures of the 108 heroes of Liangshan, became enormously popular in nineteenth-century Japan, and many Japanese novels imitating the Shuihu Zhuan were dramatized as Kabuki plays. Here, Kunisada has depicted ten major Kabuki actors in roles from a play by Yagura Suikoden.

Artist

Utagawa Kunisada

Date

1863 (5th month)

Medium

Woodblock print; ink and color on paper

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Gift of Lincoln Kirstein, 1960