名狂言歌舞伎木版画華. 第一輯 Kabuki: A Set of 6 Pictures with Stories. Series 1

京都 (Kyoto): (京都版画院) Kyoto-Hanga-In Co. Ltd, 1954. First edition. Hardcover. g- to vg-. Quarto. 8pp. booklet + 6 plates. Multicolored portfolio, with black lettering over illustrated tan paper on the front cover. String ties. The portfolio contains six plates of beautifully colored woodblock prints by the foremost Kabuki painter, Gekko Ohashi, depicting scenes from some of the most famous and acclaimed Kabuki plays. The work was published as a result of a massive increase of interest internationally in Kabuki, during the postwar period. The plates are protected by a tissue guard. An accompanying 8 page text booklet, discusses the history of Kabuki and the stories depicted. The booklet has a sewn red string binding, contains some b/w photographic reproductions, and has text in English and Japanese. The six plates depict the following six plays in lavish color:

1. Shinjuu Ten no Amijima (心中天網島)/ The Love Suicides at Amijima, by Monzaemon Chikamatsu 近松門左衛門.
2. Shibaraku 暫 (one of the "18 Great Kabuki Plays, 歌舞伎十八番".)
3. Michiyuki Tabiji no Hanamuko 道行旅路の花婿
4. Kanjincho 勧進帳, by Namiki Gohei III (one of the "18 Great Kabuki Plays, 歌舞伎十八番".)
5. Meiboku Sendaihagi 伽羅先代萩, by Kamesuke Nagawa
6. Sukeroku Yukari Edozakura 助六由縁江戸桜 (one of the "18 Great Kabuki Plays, 歌舞伎十八番.")

Portfolio with rubbing to corners and edges, as well as to the hinge of the spine. Light smudges to the front cover. Interior with light smudges to the interior front cover and tearing along the edge of the tissue guard. Booklet with minor smudges to a few pages, and some damp staining to the first an last pages. Plates with light sunning to the edges, otherwise in very good shape. Images unaffected. Portfolio in good-, interior in very good- condition overall. 大橋月皎 (Gekko Ohashi) (b.1895) was an acclaimed Japanese painter of kabuki scenes. Starting in 1925, he originally gained notice for his illustrations of "Bijinga (Paintings of beautiful women) 美人画" for newspapers and magazines. Later, his passion for Kabuki motivated him to paint the scenes from Kabuki performances and portraits of Kabuki actors. Over the years there have been numerous well received exhibitions of his work.