Kunisada III: Kabuki Drama of One Hundred Ghost Stories with Dancing Skeletons (Sold)

Scene from the play Yami no Ume Hyaku Monogatari, performed at the Kabuki-za in Tokyo on January 12, 1900. It is a ghost story dance-drama in six scenes. In the middle we see  Ichikawa Yaozô VII (市川八百蔵) as Miyamoto Musashi (宮本武三四) and on the right is Onoe Kikugorô V (尾上菊五郎) as  Osakabe Hime (小坂部姫). In the background we see supernatural figures performing a dance. In the middle is a kasa ippon ashi, a traditional yôkai which is a living 1-legged old oiled-paper umbrella. In this story, after the One Hundred Ghost Stories (Hyaku monogatari kaidankai) have been told and the final candle put out, a night scene appears wherein a tanuki and a kappa are ordered to wrestle by the one-legged umbrella yokai, which was played by an actor who must have performed on one leg. In the background here we also see dancing skeletons, two courtesans and their attendants, and two men in the role of father and son yomiuri, both dancing and holding fans. To the right the actor Onoe Kikugorô V wears a vibrant costume with a long wig, and several bats are seen flying in the air. He is in the role of Princess Osakabe, a yokai said to inhabit Himeji Castle.