Ehon of Original Paintings of Scenes from Kabuki Plays

A colored picture book drawn by hand with as many as 68 pages that contains stories staged by the three kabuki theaters of Edo in Kanen era (1748～51), such like Otoko-moji soga-monogatari by Nakamura-za theater in January of Kanen 2, Kayou kami chidori soga by Ichimura-za theater in January of Kanen 3, and Kanadehon shijushichi-moji by Nakamura-za theater in July of the same year. In the pictures, characters’ lines from each scene are also written in addition to the main cast. Besides play scripts, hardly any programs of kabuki in early 18th century was left, which makes this material a very important key to research the performances. An old collection of Sekine Shisei, one of the greatest theater researchers in Meiji era.