Japanese Woodblock of a Sumo Wrestler by Utagawa Kuniteru II from the Tatsuma Sakai collection, 1866

A 19th century Japanese woodblock of a sumo wrestler by Utagawa Kuniteru II in a modern gilt frame. The inspection and date stamp dates it to the year of the tiger, 1866. The rear has the seal of Tatsuma Sakai, owner of the Sakai Kokodo Yamafuji shop in Matsumoto. The shop goes back three generations and is famous for its Japanese ukiyo-e woodblocks. The family has since the 1700s amassed a world-leading collection and has exhibited across the Middle East, North and South America, Europe and Asia, including the first Hokusai exhibition in Australia.

The woodblock is in excellent, unfaded condition.

Ukiyo-e (‘floating world’) woodcuts depicted the pleasures of the Edo period (1603 – 1867), including kabuki plays and geisha. Japanese sumo wrestling was a popular subject. One of the oldest martial arts in Japan, its roots are in the shinto religion and matches were dedicated to the gods in prayers for a good harvest. Written records of sumo wrestling date back to the 8th century. Kuniteru II Utagawa was born as Yamada Kunijiro in 1830. He was a pupil of Kunisada Utagawa (1786-1865). The subjects of his ukiyo-e designs were common ones during the late Edo period - actors, sumo wrestlers, beautiful women (bijin-ga) and views from the modernization and westernization of Japan as it moved into the Meiji era.