A stunning large full-color Ukiyo-E Hanga print after original woodblock print "Actor Ichikawa Ebizo as Takemura Sadonoshin" 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 11 on the label on the front of the cover. Excellent condition - minor edge wear on the board, minor age wear on the cover, 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 9.60"W x 14.20"H Commentary by Ukiyo-e Art consultant & editor Dr. Kiyoshi Shibui and Mr. Sadao Kikuchi: Signature: signed Toshusai Sharaku Printers: Tsutaya Juzaburo In the possession of Dr. Seiichiro Takahashi, Oiso The eyes ominously goggle under the fantastically upturned brows, the curled up mouth, the big nose all speak the same language as the fantastically curved lines employed for the facial definition and perfectly match with the strong color scheme of the actor's clothes. The character this actor is playing Takemura Sadanoshin, the father of Shigenoi the nurse in the play "Koinyobo Some-Wake Tazuna", the May, 1794 billing for Kawarazaki-Za. A samurai in the service of a Daimyo, Sadanoshin had to leave his office and his master's fief because his daughter Shigenoi eloped with a young samurai named Yosaku. As his farewell gesture to his lord, he offers to teach him the Bell sequence of the dance "Dojoji" in which the serpent in a woman's disguise finally gets inside the huge bell, he commits Seppuku. The part is usually played by a great name in the theatre. In this portrait SHARAKU captures not only the carnal characteristics of the man but his character from the way his right hand tightly clasps his left. It is not presented as an objective form but as the actor's own interpretation of the part he is playing.