Good condition. This short series is one of Kunichika’s finest from the 1870’s. Each actor is dressed in a kimono of different design and takes the part of an onnagata in role - portraits of male actors in female roles. Notable here is Kunichika’s use of the very new western-style umbrella for this series. Kunichika’s relationship to the post-revolution government was at times equivocal. He was sometimes openly hostile or satirical of the rapid westernisation of Japan and at others was more accepting of its unusual and inevitable innovations. Certainly in this series the motif of the umbrella, which appears in all six of the prints, is presented as a fashionable, positive item, contrasting strangely to our eyes with the traditional costume and onnagata actor reminiscent of Edo culture. This is a beautiful print from a fine series and typical of the style and design of mid career Kunichika. The print is rich with bokashi shading and lavish in its use of Meiji reds and blues. His portrayal of human faces have some traces of his previous studies in hagoita style painting and can appear to be cold and hard, depending on the perspective, but it became a feature characteristic of his style. Author: Toyohara Kunichika (Japanese: 豊原 国周; 30 June 1835 – 1 July 1900) was a Japanese woodblock print artist. Talented as a child, at about thirteen he became a student of Tokyo's then-leading print maker, Utagawa Kunisada. His deep appreciation and knowledge of kabuki drama led to his production primarily of yakusha-e, which are woodblock prints of kabuki actors and scenes from popular plays of the time. An alcoholic and womanizer, Kunichika also portrayed women deemed beautiful (bijinga), contemporary social life, and a few landscapes and historical scenes. He worked successfully in the Edo period, and carried those traditions into the Meiji period. To his contemporaries and now to some modern art historians, this has been seen as a significant achievement during a transitional period of great social and political change in Japan's history.