DAI CHIKAMATSU HANGA ZENSHU

Color woodblock prints from Dai Chikamatsu Hanga Zenshu
(The complete series of large Oban prints of the playwright Monzaemon Chikamatsu).

Dai Chikamatsu Hanga Zenshu is a unique Japanese print series that includes prints by eighteen different artists with widely differing styles and subjects. Although the individual subject matter is not known for every print in this series, it is understood that each image relates to a figure or scene from a play by the well-known playwright Monzaemon Chikamatsu (1653-1724). Chikamatsu was the leading playwright of the famous puppet theater in Osaka, Takemoto-za which flourished from 1685-1767. As his puppet plays were often adapted to Kabuki theater, the modern, human interpretations in this print series are undoubtedly from these adaptations. Published in 1923, Dai Chikamatsu Hanga Zenshu includes several images of striking beauties in graceful poses, ghosts in the snow, sea divers, pirates and dragons among others.

RELATED JAPANESE LINKS:
Yozo Hamaguchi, Mizuno Hidekata, Kaoru Kawano, Imao Keinen, Tsuchiya Kogyo, Sadao Watanabe, Edo Period (1603-1867), Meiji Period (1868-1912), Shunga (1780-1900), Shin Hanga, Dai Chikamatsu Hanga Zenshu, Sosaku Hanga, Japanese Abstract/Modern