Andon 96
May 2014

EDITORIAL: Andon goes to the theatre! In this issue various authors shed light on the ever fascinating Kabuki stage and its role in early-modern Japanese visual culture. John Fiorillo and Peter Ujlaki, Iong-time promotors of Osaka prints, provide an extensive 
introduction to koban nishiki-e from Osaka. This rare small-format type of full-colour prints often featured famous actors and must have been immensely popular among Kabuki enthusiasts in the Kamigata region, even though relatively few koban prints have survived. Henk Herwig, Jos Vos, and Paul Griffith joined forces to solve some of the riddles of Utagawa Kunisada's print series Mitate sanjūrokkusen (Comparisons to a selectíon of thirty-six verses) in which each print combines a poem with a Kabuki scene.
Tove Björk takes us back stage with her analysis of Ichikawa Danjūrō II's activities as a theatre manager, and provides us with valuable information for a better understanding of the world of Kabuki and, in this wap of the prints so many of us cherish.
Finally, in the latest instalment of his record of the Wrangham sales, Jan Dees presents us with surprise developments.

Andon's editorial team hopes the present issue will give you much to enjoy.