Utagawa KUNISADA (Toyokuni III).1786-1864 Samurai fights with the spear in a room.Mid 19th centuryPolychrome woodcut. 350x238 mm., trimmed within margins. At the bottom right the signature “Toyokuni ga” in the red Toshidama cartouche. On the left, halfway up, two seals, a circular aratame censor’s seal and a separate oval zodiacal date seal. Some loss and defects.

Fighting scene, certainly illustrating a Kabuki drama. In the Kabuki theater, dramatic and sentimental stories were represented, often taken from real events, which enjoyed enormous success. Kunisada specialized in proposing some of the most popular stories of the Kabuki theater in his magnificent polychromatic engravings. From around 1850 on almost his prints have the signature enclosed in a Toshidama cartouche. Just to 1860 the very most prints were only signed with "Toyokuni ga" in these cartouches, mostly red but also yellow, blue or green coloured.