Ōkubi-e

An ōkubi-e (Japanese: 大首絵) is a Japanese portrait print or painting in the ukiyo-e genre showing only the head or the head and upper torso.^[1] Katsukawa Shunkō I (1743–1812) is generally credited with producing the first ōkubi-e. He, along with Katsukawa Shunshō, designed ōkubi-e of male kabuki actors. In the early-1790s, Utamaro designed the first ōkubi-e of beautiful women (bijin-ga ōkubi-e). The shogunate authorities banned ōkubi-e in 1800, but the ban was lifted after eight years.

Gallery

• 
  Ōkubi-e of kabuki actor Matsumoto Kōshirō IV as Tsurunosuke, a woodblock print by Katsukawa Shunkō I
• 
  Woodblock print by Utagawa Kunimasa of kabuki actor Ichikawa Ebizō in a shibaraku role, 1796
• 
  Ichikawa Yaozo III as Umeōmaru, woodblock print by Utagawa Kunimasa, 1796
• 
  Nakazō Nakamura II as Edobee, woodblock print by Sharaku, 1794
• 
  Print by Kitagawa Utamaro
• 
  Woman Wiping Sweat, woodblock print by Utamaro, 1798
• 
  Portrait of Hagiwara Sakutarō, woodblock print by Onchi Kōshirō, 1943