[From July 23 (Thu-holiday) to August 10 (Mon-holiday)]

When Danjūrō I performed Shibaraku on New Years 1697 at the Nakamura-za—as a short drama in the play, Sankai-nagoya—it won popularity with its clear plot, a characteristic of early kabuki. Shibaraku thereafter became a signature piece of the Ichikawa family and Edo kabuki. The robe differs in color from the current persimmon-color garment, which dates from a performance by Danjūrō II in the play Banmin Daifukuchō in the eleventh month of 1714. This ukiyo-e print was originally in the collection of the prolific kyoka poet and drama writer Ōta Nanpo (1749-1823). It bears a rectangular red seal reading “Ōta Collection” and square red seal reading “Nanpo Library.”

[1st term：July 23 (Thu-holiday) – August 23 (Sun)]

Depicted is an enormous wave, towering like a mountain, at the moment before it crashes down. The boatmen aboard the oshiokuri-bune (fast boats used to transport fresh fish to Edo) simply cling to their boat and let nature take its course. Snow-clad Mt. Fuji rises in the background. The wave and mountain are similar in color and shape, and people familiar with Mt. Fuji’s appearance no doubt instantly discern their resemblance. By pairing a raging wave with the fixed, immovable Mt. Fuji, Hokusai has formed a powerful contrast between dynamic and static.

[2nd term：August 25 (Tue) – September 22 (Tue-holiday)]

"People have very different natures,” the cursive script reads. “Gradually, by various efforts, they become full-fledged individuals.” The man's eyebrow is a black loincloth. The tattoo on the shoulder of the man forming the nose suggests the blue of a shaved lip. The check-pattern kimono is also formed of men’s backs. This giga (comic picture) uses human figures in various poses to form a half-length portrait of a man. Other Kuniyoshi works of this genre include “He looks fierce, but he is a kind person” (Mikake wa kowai ga tonda ii hito da) and "She’s a young person who looks quite aged” (Toshiyori no yō na wakai hito da).

[1st term：July 23 (Thu-holiday) – August 23 (Sun)]

Shibaraku is the showpiece of aragoto—the “wild-warrior” style of acting that has been the “family art” of the Ichikawa family since Danjūrō I. It condenses in a short drama all the color and formal beauty that is kabuki’s charm. In 1791, Danjūrō V passed on the Danjūrō name and formally took the name Ichikawa Ebizō. This print depicts him in the year of his retirement, performing as Usui Sadamitsu in the shibaraku scene. In a striking composition, the sleeve of his robe divides the picture diagonally, and the Ichikawa family crest (three nested squares) on the sleeve dominates the image. Above the sleeve, the actor’s distinctive nose and profile are depicted without outline. The picture is alive with Kunimasa’s playful, innovative sensibility.

[2nd term：August 25 (Tue) – September 22 (Tue-holiday)]

A scene of the annual Niwaka Festival held in the Yoshiwara pleasure quarter in the eight month of the lunar calendar. Six prints by Utamaro on this subject, believed to depict the 1783 festival, are known to exist. Because they focus on a limited number of geisha, they are thought to be nyūgin-mono (tie-up promotional handouts) issued jointly by the publisher and the geisha depicted. The kimono worn by the geisha in a standing pose, in this print, displays the sakurasō (primrose) crest of Tomimoto-bushi school of Japanese jōruri music. For this reason, she is thought to be Tomimoto Toyoshina. The geisha holding the shamisen, meanwhile, is Ohide of the Tamamuraya house. Her action of extending a sake cup implies the presence of a customer beyond her hand.

[1st term：July 23 (Thu-holiday) – August 23 (Sun)]

This is one of a series of eight prints created as kubarimono (free handouts) at the request of Taihaido Nomimasu, a kyoka comic verse poet with whom Hiroshige enjoyed friendly relations. The willow trees in the foreground above the Tama River are in beautiful contrast with the distant mountains beyond. The moon in the sky, tinted with silver paint, imparts an air of the Rinpa school, but only prints from the first printing were tinted in this manner. In later runs, the moon is a white space on an indigo ground. The print sensitively captures people at play in everyday life, riding in boats and fishing.