Syllable KU from the series Collected Seven Variations of the Kana Syllabary (Nanatsu iroha shūi)

With the series of syllables from the Japanese syllabary iroha in seven calligraphic variants, Kunisada returned to the popular series of stations on the Tōkaidō Road and scenes with one hundred poets. The series Seven Variations of Syllabary Characters (Seisho nanatsu iroha) has a similar typographic design with a decorative heading and a loosely-following illustration composed in a square with a direct link to kabuki theatre. The National Gallery Prague houses 32 sheets from the original series of 47 syllables (some in duplicate) selected from two albums. After the great success of this cycle, Kunisada published a continuation of this series of theatre scenes, which were sorted by syllabary characters or by the characters of the iroha poem (Nanatsu iroha shūi). This print depicts a scene from the drama Hakata kojorō nami makura, whose protagonist is the Pirate Kuemon, played here by Ichikawa Danjūrō VIII, who is attacking and throwing Komatsuya Sōshichi, played by Bandō Hikosaburō V, overboard. The drama about a courtesan from Hakata and the pirate Kuemon was written by Chikamatsu Monzaemon in 1718. While Kunisada was still alive, the play was resurrected in the kabuki genre by Danjūrō VII in the character of Kuemon. (See Helena Honcoopová, Kunisada, Praha 2005, p. 216)