Ichikawa Ennosuke is one of the most popular actors on the contemporary Kabuki stage. Here, he plays a character in the play 'Date no juaku', a version of 'Meibaku Sendai hagi'.

Ichikawa Danshiro is seen in this print as Benkei, in anther variant on the theme of loyalty to Yoshisune as seen in the print 'Kanjicho'. Note the extraordinary 'kumadori' make-up that is unique to this role.

In this tattoo print, the red maple leaves, stylised thunderbolts and gusts of wind all suggest autumn.

This print is executed in a fairly Sosaku Hanga (creative print) style and uses only seven colours The dancer looks up at he new temple bell, having destroyed the previous bel at Dojo Temple in an earlier incarnation as a fiery serpent.

Narukam is the thundergod and begins the play as a Buddhist ascetic, who has captured the dragon of rain with a spell, which is only broken when he is seduced by a court lady causing his powers to vanish. The pose in this print is known as the 'pillar-wrapping' mie, and Narukami's costume seems to burst into flames.

Sukeroku, a valiant young man, is in search of an heirloom sword stolen from his family. He vists Agemaki, his lover, in the pleasure quarters of Yoshiwara, and here discovers the man who has stolen the sword.

Shirabaku is a short play, a typical 'aragoto' (or rough style) play, used to announce the main actors contracted to each Kabuki theatre. Here, the current Ichikawa Danjuro XII performs in the play created by Ichikawa Danjuro I over three hundred years ago.

The eighth and final design in the Kabuki juhachiban group, Oshimodoshi is a short scene sometimes added to the end of certain dramas. A superhero appears to challenge and defeat an evil spirit. Here, the large piece of bamboo behind him is the weapon he uses to try to defeat the evil serpent, and the end of the play sees him creature with it while the snake poses atop a great temple bell.

Yanone is a very stylized aragoto' (rough style) play in which Soga no Goro, a young man hoping to avenge the murder of his father, sharpens a huge arrow, then has a dream telling him where and how to kill the culprit.

Benkei is a 'yamabushi' (mountain priest) in this play. He is loyal to Yoshitsune, the younger brother of the shogun. The shogun has decreed that his brother be arrested and so Benkei disguises him as a porter to pass through the barrier gate. He has to pretend to read a blank scroll in order to convince the gate-keeper that they are on a sacred mission and let them pass.

The play 'Kenuki' is known as the first 'detective drama' in Japan. The play is about a samurai retainer who is askd to investigate the unusual illness of a young princess whose hair stands on end for no apparent reason. While plucking his beard with enormous tweezers, he discovers that hidden in the roof space are using a magnet to attract the princess's metal hairpins...

This print portrays the two lovers in the famous double-suicide 17th Century play 'Koi hikyaku Yamato orai', also known as 'Umegawa-Chubei'. The lovers stop briefly in the snowy village of Niinokuchi where Chubei's father lives, in order to bid him a final farewell.

'Inazuma' means Lightning, but is a literary term that brings ideas of fertilising the fields derived from ancient poetry. The large format of this print gives a dramatic feeling of the verticality of the bolt of lightning as it crackles between dark clouds and rain to earth.

Within the edition of 40, there are 14 different printings, including 3 printings of solid black overlaid to achieve a deep, opaque darkness in the heaviest clouds.

The last performance of Onoe Baiko VII recorded by Binnie, and coicidentally also by Tsuruya Kokei, was as the demon of Rashomon gate, disguised as an old woman.

Masaoka is the governess of a young lord in the play 'Meiboku Sendai hagi'. Here she is depicted at the beginning of the scene that will see the death of her son.

This print was originally conceived as a tattoo print, but in the end, this print focused instead on the light effect on the male torso.

The model wears a 'yukata' directly inspired by one in a print by Shinsui. The background is printed in a 'goma-zuri' (sesame-seed printing) or lightly pressed method, reminiscent of Watanabe's pre-1923 prints.

The fourth and latest design in this series, this addition is a dramatic and emotive female portrait.

An unusual printing technique is used for the shibori (tie-dyed) pattern on the red kimono, which imbues a realistic feel to the dyed silk. This involves deeply embossing the plain paper with the white pattern; then the red colour is gently printed over the surface of the flat block. In addition, hand-applied ‘teardrops’ of nikawa (glue-size) in the mica represents her fallen tears, which are unique to the piece.

This print is made is on a heavier paper from Iwate prefecture to facilitate the very deep embossing.

This is a new state of 'Engawa' ('Veranda'), which has been sold out for many years.

It is the accompanying non-tattoo version of 'Utamaro no shunga' ('Utamaro's Erotica'), with a deep raspberry-pink background.

The print now forms part of the 'Collection of Eastern Brocade Beauties Series.