TOYOKUNI. Yakusha-e. Kabuki Theater scene. Courtesan Okaru climbs a ladder. Colored woodcut. 360x248 ca. Sign: "Gototei Kunisada ga." Publisher: Sanoki. Censored by Kiwame. Red collector's seal at lower left corner. Good impression, trimmed, faded, crease at left margin. The actor Bando Tamasaburo in the role of the sought-after courtesan Okaru climbs a ladder, scene from the Kanadehon Chushingura play (The Treasury of Loyal Retainers). Yakusha-e, often referred to as "actor prints" in English, are Japanese woodblock prints of kabuk actors, particularly those done in the ukiyo-e style popular through the Edo period (1603-1867).Utagawa Kunisada, also known as Utagawa Toyokuni III, Edo, 1786-1865, was one of the most famous Ukiyo-e woodblock print designers of 19th century Japan. He was the head of one of the most important Japanese woodblock printing schools, the Utagawa School.