The framed print measures 20 3/4” by 15 ¾” - the image is 15” by 10 ½”, oban size. It is in excellent condition – very light toning and some faint smudges. The frame is a very complimentary bamboo that works well with the colors of the print. It has not been examined out of the frame but do know the framer and know that is was museum matted and framed. We date the print to the late Edo, circa 1780s –1815.

Utagawa Toyokuni (1769, Edo - February 24, 1825, Edo) ( also often referred to as Toyokuni I), to distinguish him from the members of his school who took over his gō (art-name after he died) was a great master of ukiyo-e, known in particular for his Kabuki actor prints. He was one of the heads of the renowned Utagawa school of Japanese woodblock artists, and was the person who really moved it to the position of great fame and power it occupied for the rest of the nineteenth century. His work captured the world around him, particularly the Kabuki theatre, with great clarity, and his style was a step forward; in addition, it was commercially successful, and thus freed woodblock prints from many of the restrictive canons which had limited previous generations of artists.