Okijiro Hironari, School of Katsushika Hokusai, c. 1802 Japanese Woodblock of Kyogen Theatre Actor with Mask 1980s watercolor each of a different color

each of a different color and together forming a sort of wreath

And so if feels to me there's quite a life and love and story embedded in this little portrait

this desk ornament completely won me with its folkiness--especially that compass

though I’d be wary of putting much weight on it

Okijiro Hironari, School of Katsushika Hokusai, c. 1802 Japanese Woodblock of Kyogen Theatre Actor with Mask 1980s watercolor each of a different colorThe prior owner of this one did well to tape a description on reverse, identifying it as the work of Okijiro Hironari, an artist among the circle that studied under ukiyo e master Katsushika Hokusa(1760 1849, and dating the woodblock to the very beginning of the 19th century. The portrait is of a Kyogen actor Kyogen a form of traditional Japanese comic theatre (a bit like commedia dell'arte) that developed alongside Noh theater and was performed as an