About This Print
This print of a puppeteer's hand holding a bunraku puppet head (likely a "shako mage" used for knowing, vivacious women of middle age*) is from a numbered edition of 200 prints issued by Kōrokusha 紅録社, the publishing house jointly created by Kamei Tōbei (1901-1977), Tokuriki Tomikichiro (1902-2000) and Kotozuka Eiichi (1906-1979). At least one other numbered edition of this print exists (see below).*see Bunraku: The Art of the Japanese Puppet Theatre, Donald Keene and Hiroshi Kaneko, Kodansha International, Ltd., 1965, p. 229.
possibly another edition
last revised:
Number 9 from an edition of 20 prints, dated 1949
Print Details
| IHL Catalog | #315 |
| Title | Bunraku Puppet Head |
| Series | |
| Artist | Kamei Tōbei (1901-1977) |
| Signature | Kamei Tōbei printed on front and T. Kamei written in English script on verso   |
| Seal | no artist's seal on this edition |
| Date | c. 1949 |
| Edition | 11/200 written in pencil on verso |
| Publisher |  |
| Impression | excellent |
| Colors | excellent |
| Condition | good - light toning; light wrinkling upper right margin; mounting residue verso on 2 top corners |
| Genre | sosaku hanga (creative print) |
| Miscellaneous | silver mica used as highlight in background |
| Format | oban |
| H x W Paper | 13 3/4 x 9 1/2 in. (34.9 x 24.1 cm) |
| H x W Image | 12 x 8 1/2 in. (30.5 x 21.6 cm) |
| Collections This Print | Harvard Art Museum 1978.239; Honolulu Museum of Art 25984 |
| Reference Literature | Japanese Wood-block Prints, Shizuya Fujikake, Japan Travel Bureau, 1938 revised 1949, unnumbered plate |
2/18/2021
7/21/2019
9/3/2018
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