1964 After Sharaku "Actor Iwai Hanshiro as Nurse Shigenoi", Full-Color Print From Japan

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A stunning large full-color Ukiyo-E Hanga print after original woodblock print "Actor Iwai Hanshiro as Nurse Shigenoi" by Toshusai Sharaku. … Read more A stunning large full-color Ukiyo-E Hanga print after original woodblock print "Actor Iwai Hanshiro as Nurse Shigenoi" by Toshusai Sharaku. Comes from a rare Collection of 24 Masterpieces by Sharaku. Produced & published by Shuei-Sha, Tokyo, in September, 1964. Printers: Toppan Printing Co., LTD. Printed on one side. Attached at the top to a board of heavy textured paper, covered with lighter sheet of paper for protection, numbered 13 on the label on the front of the cover. Excellent condition - minor edge wear on the board, never framed, ready to be framed. Copy of the commentary by Dr. Kiyoshi Shibui and Mr. Sadao Kikuchi (below) in Japanese and English is included.

Overall (folded) 12.50"W x 18.25"H
Overall (unfolded) 25"W x 18.25"H
Image 9.30"W x 14.30"H

Commentary by Ukiyo-e Art consultant & editor Dr. Kiyoshi Shibui and Mr. Sadao Kikuchi:
Signature: signed Toshusai Sharaku
Printers: Tsutaya Juzaburo (with a seal)
In the possession of Mr. Shinichiro Nakajima, Tokyo

Chubby faced and full of personality, Hanshiro IV was considered in his days one of the best female impersonators of Edo, the equal of the glamorous Segawa Kikuno-jo. He was known as "Maitre of Shirogane" from the street he lived on. This is taken from the classic scene in Kabuki play "Koinyobo Somewake Tazuna" in which Shigenoi, in the service of a Daimyo household as nurse of her master's young daughter, encounters her own young son born to her by her common law husband Date-no-Yosaku. The little boy is working as a lowly horse driver. The encounter takes place while she was accompanying her charge the princess on a long trip in state procession, heading for the Daimyo household of the new foster parents of the princess in another province. The little horse driver amuses the princess with a picture map game. Shigenoi, though deeply moved at the sight of her own son, decides not to tell him what she is to him, not until she completes her mission of delivering the princess to her new home. This scene known as "Shigenoi's Farewell to Her Little Son" is one of most moving in the Kabuki classic. The costume worn by Shigenoi impersonator, pink butterfly and folding fan patterns on white ground for her dress over which is worn a coat in mauve, and white two tiers of silk undergarments piped with pink are flattering to actor Hanshiro's round face and mild personality. See less