Tsuruya Kokei: Nakamura Kichiemon as Yakko (SOLD)

Artist: Tsuruya Kokei (Born 1946)
Title: Nakamura Kichiemon as Yakko
Date: March, 1991

The actor Nakamura Kichiemon II as the footman Yakko Unpai. He hunches over against a deep indigo background, his fingers curling into his palms.  As noted on the British Museum website, Tsuruya Kokei is one of postwar Japan’s leading designers of woodblock theater prints. Kokei’s father was the print artist Nakazawa Hiromitsu. Kokei’s woodblock prints are self-carved and self-printed on thin gampi paper and are often topped with a thick layer of mica to the finished print, as here. The deep grey/blue background has a heavy layer of mica, reminiscent of actor prints by Sharaku. This is season 8, number 5 in the series, numbered 85/90.  From the series “Kabuki-za, Dai hakki Okubi-e Series.”

Condition: Excellent impression, color and condition. 
Literature: See “Tsuruya Kokei--The Complete Woodblock Prints 1978-200”, Hiraki Ukiyo-e Foundation (2000); page 66, plate 125.
Dimensions: 38.7 x 25 cm

SKU: KOK011S