About This Print

Of the eighteen prints in the set Woodblock Print Supplements to the Complete Works of Chikamatsu this is one of the few that has not been associated with a particular work by Chikamatsu. The print's attribution to Yamaguchi Sohei, as stated below, is now generally accepted as correct.

Source: The New Wave: Twentieth-century Japanese Prints from the Robert O. Muller Collection, ed. Amy Reigle Stephens, Bamboo Publishing Ltd. & Hotei-Japanese Prints, p. 168.
This dynamic image was included in a series of twelve prints published around 1923...¹ This print has been previously attributed to the writer Morita Sohie (1881-1949).  However, although Morita Sohei was acquainted with a number of shin hanga artists such as Natori Shunsen, it is doubtful that he himself designed prints.  The style of this print and part of the signature is instead similar to a print by the little-known artist, Yamaguchi Sōhei, entitled Memorial portrait of the actor Nakamura Ganjiro, which was published by the Osaka publisher, Yamagiya, in 1935.  

"Woodblock Print Supplements to the Complete Works of Chikamatsu"

One of 18 prints published from 1922 to 1923 as part of the celebration of the two-hundredth anniversary of the death of Chikamatsu Manzaemon (1623-1724), perhaps the greatest dramatist in the history of the Japanese theater. Each design illustrates a scene or character from one of Chikamatsu’s famous works.  For more details on this series go to Woodblock Print Supplements to the Complete Works of Chikamatsu.

¹ The correct quantity of prints associated with this series is eighteen. 

Print Details

IHL Catalog	#48
Title or Description	Kabuki Actor with a Sword
Series	Woodblock Print Supplements to the Complete Works of Chikamatsu  Dai Chikamatsu zenshu furoku mokuhan 大近松全集 付録木版
Artist	Yamaguchi Sōhei (1882-1961)
Signature	not signed
Seal	草平 Sōhei
Publication Date	between 1922-1923
Edition	likely first edition, but the number of editions issued is unknown
Publisher	Dai Chikamatsu zenshū kankōkai 大近松全集刊行会 (the Complete Work of Chikamatsu Publishing Association)
Carver	Yamagishi Kazue 1893-1996
Printer	Nishimura Kumakichi
Impression	excellent
Colors	excellent
Condition	excellent
Miscellaneous	all prints from this series printed on a light tan-colored paper
Genre	shin hanga (new prints)
Format	dai-oban
H x W Paper	17 3/4 x 11 1/2 in. (45.1 x 29.2 cm)
H x W Image	15 1/4 x 10 7/8 in. (38.7 x 27.6 cm) measurement includes gray border
Collections This Print	The Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum of Waseda University 201-0386 and 201-0387
Reference Literature	The New Wave: Twentieth-century Japanese prints from the Robert O. Muller Collection, Amy Reigle Stephens, Bamboo Publishing Ltd, London & Hotei-Japanese Prints, Leiden, 1993, p. 168, image 207.