Lot 4
4
TORII KIYOTSUNE: hosoban (28.8 x 13cm.); a full-length portrait of the wrestler Shakagatake Kumoemon in everyday clothes walking along a street, signed Torii Kiyotsune ga and published by Maruya Kuemon--good impression, faded and slightly trimmed and toned

Details
TORII KIYOTSUNE: hosoban (28.8 x 13cm.); a full-length portrait of the wrestler Shakagatake Kumoemon in everyday clothes walking along a street, signed Torii Kiyotsune ga and published by Maruya Kuemon--good impression, faded and slightly trimmed and toned
Provenance
Charles Mitchell

Lot Essay

PUBLISHED:
Sumo and the Woodblock Print Masters, fig. 8

One of the early portrait prints of wrestlers, here of Shakagatake Kumoemon (active early 1770s) who was renowned more for his enormous physical proportions than his skill at wrestling. Kiyotsune draws attention to Kumoemon's six or seven foot height by placing his head level with the roof of the shop behind him.