Unpei - Plate No 125

Plate 125 in Kokei's ongoing numbered series of kabuki actor portraits, this print depicts Unpei, a character drawn from the classical repertoire. Kokei's numbered series documents kabuki roles systematically, functioning collectively as a modern visual chronicle of the living stage in the manner that actor prints once served Edo audiences. Each plate isolates a single character in the close compositional format Kokei developed for the series, foregrounding costume detail, wig construction, and the particularized facial expression that distinguishes one role from another. The woodblock medium allows Kokei to render the layered textures of stage costume—stiff brocades, resist-dyed fabrics, and painted makeup—through differentiated carving and selective use of gradated bokashi in background passages. The high plate number indicates this print belongs to a mature phase of the series produced well into Kokei's career.