Utagawa Kunisada/Toyokuni III (1786-1865) Fashionable Firefly Hunting: Nakamura Fukusuke I, 1860. Oban.
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This stunning design is from a short series of actor portraits, each with a dramatic kimono and a background of fireflies set against a dark night sky. It is an outstanding print with extraordinary richness and depth of colour… all, of course designed to set off the brilliance of the summer fireflies. We see Fukusuke, a star of the kabuki theatre and wildly popular, adorned in an exotic and richly decorated kimono and holding a fan, inscribed possibly with a poem of his own composition as was customary. The design of his costume is a richly drawn bird, possibly a Chinese pheasant, but more likely a phoenix, chiming perfectly with the midnight blues of the background.
Each print in the series features fireflies. Firefly viewing - Hotarugari - was a popular pastime, and the insects enjoyed great popularity in the early summer and were collected in thousands along river banks and parks. They were principally a novelty and a delight to children and young people. In Japan, fireflies are a romantic symbol of courtship; symbols of the night and of couples out on excursions in moonlight. Fireflies were habitually kept in small wood and mesh cages and these cages and the fireflies are often the subject of ukiyo prints.
The colour… rich and overprinted, is really outstanding on this print; the top of the dark sky is encrusted in mica. Condition and impression are also very fine, a very fine print. A copy of this print is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Published by: Ebisuya Shoshichi.
37 x 26 cm.
