Tokini Ōtsu-e Kidai no Maremono

Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798–1861; born in Nihonbashi, Edo) began drawing from an early age, and a drawing he produced shortly after the age of ten caught the attention of Utagawa Toyokuni I (1769–1825), under whom he began training at fifteen. Over the course of his career, Kuniyoshi explored an exceptionally wide range of subjects, including actor prints, bijinga (pictures of beauties), warrior prints, shunga (erotic prints), and landscapes. He is especially celebrated for his panoramic triptychs, which treated three joined sheets as a single widescreen composition.
Among his best-known works are Miyamoto Musashi Fighting a Giant Whale and Takiyasha the Witch and the Skeleton Specter at Sōma Palace, which exemplify his dramatic and inventive approach. Kuniyoshi also created a large number of humorous designs, including parodies of octopuses wrestling with bears and goldfish in anthropomorphic form, works often cited as precursors to modern manga.
In addition, he produced satirical images that playfully critiqued the Tokugawa shogunate.

This print draws on the kabuki play Keisei Hangon-kō, specifically the “Domomata” scene, which was widely popular at the time. At the center is Kuniyoshi himself, disguised as the Ōtsu-e painter Matabei. Produced at a time when official reforms prohibited actor prints, the design represents the kabuki scene indirectly by depicting characters from the Ōtsu-e painting tradition. While the artist’s face is partly concealed by sheets of paper fluttering in the air, the inclusion of a cat at his side unmistakably signals that the figure is Kuniyoshi, who was famously devoted to cats throughout his life.