Yakasha-e: "Actor pictures from the floating world." Ukiyo, the floating world - a transient realm of pleasures, horrors, and dreams - was brought to life most vividly on the kabuki stage of 19th century Japan, and recorded in yakasha-e, paintings and woodblock prints depicting and most famous actors and most sensational scenes of the day. Perhaps the most famous of all purveyors of yakasha-e was Toyohara Kunichika (1835-1900), renowned as one of the greatest ukiyo-e artists of the 19th century. Almost his entire artistic life was dedicated to creating image records of kabuki theatre productions and the actors who starred in them, including such notables as Ichikawa Danjuro IX, Nakamura Shikan IV, and Onoe Kikugoro V. Kunichika constantly developed his own unique aesthetic style, always pushing the boundaries of ukiyo-e in bold and provocative new directions.
The selection of Kunichika's works in KABUKI DREAMS is limited to his designs in the triptych format, which gave him and other ukiyo-e artists the freedom to express their visions as narratives in a kinetic, detailed image frame. 100 of Kunichika's most innovative, vivid and dynamic yakasha triptychs produced between 1863 and 1896 are reproduced in full-color and full page-width throughout.