A Celebration of Actors (Yakusha mono iwai)
Ryūkōsai Jokei 流光斎如圭 Japanese
Not on view
Illustrated by the pioneering Osaka painter and print artist Ryūkōsai, this two-volume set comprises woodblock-printed portraits of forty-nine Kabuki actors of the day, each with their own poem. Books like this helped establish a visual code by which fans could identify favorite actors, through facial characteristics and crests on their costumes. On the last page of each volume is a table of the actors with their stage clan names (yagō) and haiku pen names (haimyō).
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