Kawanabe Kyosai Theatre Curtain of the Shintomi-za,with an Impromptu Sketch Monsters

A stage curtain as a present to Shintomi-za theater, a representative theater in Tokyo in early Meiji era, from Kanagaki Robun, a writer of popular literature around Meiji era. It is said to be drawn in only four hours by Robun’s friend Kyosai when drinking alcohol on June 30 of Meiji 13 (1880). In this curtain, monsters, based on the model of representative actors of the kabuki world then such like Ichikawa Danjuro XI and Onoe Kikugoro V, jumped out of wicker trunks and went to the audience seats of Shintomi-za theater. As a work of Kyosai, a ukiyo-e artist with outstanding personality, the fact that this stage curtain was preserved is very interesting.