Author: Toyohara Kunichika (豊原国周).
Subject: the kabuki actor Ichimura Kakitsu IV (四代目市村家橘) as Takechi Jūjirō (武智十治郎).
Title: Taikōki (太閤記).
Genre: yakusha-e (役者絵).
Size: large (ōban, 大判).
Publisher: Daikoku ya Kichinosuke (大黒屋吉之助).
Period: c. 1865.
Trimmed: yes
Backed: no
Code: TKC01004

Condition: very good condition. Good colors and saturation. Any remarkable stain. No wrinkles nor creases. No fixing.

The subject of this print is Takechi Jūjirō, a fictional character from the Taikōki, an historical novel based on the biography of Toyotomi Hideyoshi (豊臣秀吉)
Hideyoshi (preceded by Oda Nobunaga and followed by Tokugawa Ieyasu) has been a pivotal figure for the Japanese unification process which followed the warring states period (sengoku jidai, 戦国時代, 1467~1615).
In the novel Jūjirō is the son of Takechi Mitsuhide, whose character is shaped on the image of Akechi Mitsuhide (明智光秀), Nobunaga's retainers and responsible of his own master's death during an ambush set at the Honnō ji temple (本能寺) when this was set afire.
After Nobunaga's death he tried to establish himself as Shōgun, but was quickly pursued and defeated by Hideyoshi few days later.