Yoshimura Ijūrō VI’s Memorable Stage Concerts

Between 1929 and 1934, Kotondo designed twenty-one prints of beauties, but he seems not to have delved into Kabuki subjects until 1941—rather unexpected given his family background and position as head of the Torii school, which specialized in images of Kabuki actors. Only two theater prints by him are known. One is this unusually large memorial print (shini-e) of the nagauta singer Yoshimura Ijūrō VI (1859–1935) with Kotondo’s portrait of the Ibaraki demon and a reference to the play The Subscription List (Kanjinchō), Ijūrō VI’s most famous performance, for which several audio recordings exist.