Photo kabuki magazine November 1925

This print appears to be a cover or insert design produced for a 1925 photographic kabuki magazine. The November 1925 date situates the work just over two years after the September 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake, which destroyed Hasui's early sketchbooks along with the carved blocks held by his publisher Watanabe Shozaburo. Theatrical subject matter is unusual within Hasui's predominantly landscape-oriented output, suggesting a specific commission rather than part of an ongoing series. Such magazine work would have supplemented income for printmakers during the recovery years when major editions were being slowly rebuilt. The use of woodblock printing for periodical illustration was already becoming uncommon by this date, with offset lithography taking over most commercial work; the survival of woodblock for occasional theatrical publications reflects the medium's continuing prestige value for kabuki audiences and the practical availability of skilled carvers and printers within the shin-hanga workshops.