Interior of a Kabuki theatre while a performance is in progress. Colour woodcut by Kunisada I, 1858.

The stage set is complex; a commotion is caused in the audience as a vendor moves around selling food; men and women attend together; the cheap seats are seen on the top left, the 'chicken coop' with a partial view of the main stage; lanterns above bear the actor's crests

The actor is of the Ichikawa line and enters as a hero of the play Shibaraku! (wait one moment!) along the raised passage through the audience (shown on left leaf). The main stage shows the villain and his helpless victims

Edo [Tokyo] : [publisher not identified], 1858.

1 print : woodcut, printed in colours

Bears censor's seal

Complete triptych is in the National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh

Wellcome Collection 35867i