Yakusha no hanami, Hokushū Shunkōsai

Print shows four actors looking at a frog near a blossoming cherry tree; the two actors standing next to the tree may be Kataoka Nizaemon VII and, in the onnagata role, Fujikawa Tomokichi II.
Title and other descriptive information compiled by Nichibunken-sponsored Edo print specialists in 2005-2006.
Format: second panel of four vertical Oban Nishikie.
Osaka print, possibly by Shioya Chōbē.
Forms part of: Japanese prints and drawings (Library of Congress).
Exhibited: "Sakura : Cherry Blossom as Living Symbol of Friendship" in the Graphic Arts Gallery, Thomas Jefferson Building, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., 2012.
Exhibit caption: This example of a Kamigata print (called Kamigata-e for the region including the cities of Osaka and Kyoto) depicts a group of actors who are distracted from viewing sakura blossoms by a small frog. It was conceived as the second of four sheets in a multi-panel work a full impression of which is in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts collection. The actors shown here have been identified as Fujikawa Tomokichi II (a.k.a. Fujikawa Kayū II), Kataoka Nizaemon VII, Arashi Danpachi I, and Kataoka Korokurō I.