The colors are excellent and the registration is great. The print is in very fine condition – not examined out of the black metal frame. There is one tiny hole in the lower right corner next to the censors and publishers marks. We date the print to the late Edo period, circa 1840 – 1865. The frame measures 20 ½” by 15 ½” – the print by itself measures 13 ½” by 10 ½” – oban size.

Utagawa Kunisada (1786 - 1865), also known as Utagawa Toyokuni III) was the most popular, prolific and financially successful designer of ukiyo-e woodblock prints in 19th-century Japan. In his own time, his reputation far exceeded that of his contemporaries, Hokusai, Hiroshige and Kuniyoshi. His early sketches at that time impressed Toyokuni, the great master of the Utagawa school and prominent designer of kabuki and actor-portrait prints. In the year 1800 or shortly thereafter Kunisada was accepted by Toyokuni I as an apprentice in his workshop. In keeping with a tradition of Japanese master-apprentice relations, he was then given the official artist name of “KUNI-sada”, the first character of which was derived from the second part of the name “Toyo-KUNI”.