SHUNKŌ (春江) — EARLY SIGNATURE OF SHUNBAISAI HOKUEI · Nakamura Utaemon III as Jizō no Goheiji & Sawamura Kunitarō II as his wife Kojorō · Osaka Kabuki Diptych · Bunsei 12 (1829) · Pupil of Hokushū · Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Parallel ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Artist: Shunkō 春江 — early art-name of Shunbaisai Hokuei (春梅斎北英, act. 1828–1836), here signing Shunkōsai monjin Shunkō ga ("drawn by Shunkō, pupil of Shunkōsai Hokushū") School: Kamigata (Osaka) school — lineage of Ryūkōsai → Shōkōsai → Hokushū → Hokuei Technique: Nishiki-e (multi-colour woodblock) on washi, with imitation kanoko shibori patterning and bold lattice (kōshi) printing Date: Bunsei 12 (1829) Format: Ōban tate-e diptych — two separate sheets, each approx. 37 × 26 cm Genre: Yakusha-e (kabuki actor portrait) Subject: Nakamura Utaemon III (Shikan) as Jizō no Goheiji (right sheet); Sawamura Kunitarō II as his wife Kojorō (left sheet) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Paper & condition Two separate ōban sheets, still carrying their colour well — salmon-orange border, blue-and-white noren, and soft green floor tones all reading clearly. Overall fading with some margin wear and minor repairs; presents as honest, good condition for a diptych roughly two centuries old. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- About the print The print captures a paired stage moment: Utaemon III as the rough male lead Jizō no Goheiji and Sawamura Kunitarō II as his wife Kojorō. Nakamura Utaemon III (Shikan, 1778–1838) was the towering star of the early-19th-century Osaka theatre, and the overwhelming majority of fine Kamigata actor prints of these years orbit his performances. The young Hokuei — at this date still signing as Shunkō and openly crediting Hokushū as his teacher — would within a few years dominate Osaka print production outright, accounting for the bulk of actor prints issued in the city in the 1830s and producing some of the most technically refined ukiyo-e ever made. A sheet from his brief pupil phase therefore documents the start of that career.