Japanese Kabuki Print

This print depicts a kabuki actor samurai and his young apprentice. The poem on the top can be understood as follows: 年の初め乃 (beginning of the year) / toshi no hajime no 言の葉ろ (word leave) / kot no ha ni 花を栄える (prosperous flowers) / hana o sakaeru千金化春 (fortune for this new year) /senkin no haru. Yoshikatsu Utagawa 歌川 芳勝, whose birth and death dates are unknown, was a student of Kuniyoshi Utagawa. His real last name is Ishiwatari and his nickname is Shosuke or Yusuke... He used to be a soy sauce salesman for the shogunate, but he lost his job and started working with Kuniyoshi sensei i. His work period was between koka 弘化 and Ansei 安政 (1845-1859). Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)