Kunisada, backstage at an Edo Kabuki theater - 1810s by Atelier Liesjes

Kabuki or kaboeki is a traditional Japanese form of theater that originated during the Edo period.

Kabuki was an art form of the townspeople and not of the upper social classes. The social upper classes had no and kyogen as an art form. The plays of kabuki deal with historical events, moral conflicts in love between husband and wife.

Kabuki actors use a formed language that is sometimes difficult even for Japanese to understand. They speak in a monotone voice and are accompanied by traditional Japanese instruments.

Utagawa Kunisada (1786 - Jan. 12, 1865), also known as Utagawa Toyokuni III, was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist. He is considered the most popular, prolific and commercially successful designer of ukiyo-e woodcuts in 19th-century Japan. In his own time, his reputation far surpassed that of his contemporaries Hokusai, Hiroshige and Kuniyoshi.

By the end of the Edo period (1603-1867), Kunisada was one of the three best representatives of Japanese color woodcutting in Edo (capital of Japan, now Tokyo).