Kokei (1946 - Present)

Kokei Tsuruya holds a unique place among Japan’s contemporary woodblock print artists. Emotionally charged, bold and vividly rendered, his kabuki portraits blend the spirit of ukiyo-e with a distinctly modern angle. With expressive faces and exaggerated gestures, contemporary stars of the kabuki stage spring from the artist’s imagination, bold against delicate sheets of ganpi paper. As Kokei found inspiration in the actor prints of the Edo period, he also reinvigorated the symbiotic relationship between the woodblock print and the kabuki theater through his twenty-two year partnership with the Kabuki-za, Tokyo’s premier kabuki theater.

Born in 1946 in Chigasaki, Kanagawa prefecture as Mitsui Gen, Kokei Tsuruya was raised in Shinjuku ward of Tokyo. Both his father and grandfather worked as professional artists, yet Kokei set off on a different path. Kokei explored woodblock carving as a pastime and collected ukiyo-e, but spent his early adulthood pursuing a corporate career. That is, until the mid-1970s. Profoundly inspired by a Kabuki performance, he soon traded office life for the artist’s workshop and began to design actor portraits. Around this time, Kokei's work caught the eye of Takeomi Nagayama, the president of the Shochiku Company, which owned the Kabuki-za, and a symbiotic relationship between artist and theater blossomed. Between 1978 and 2000, Kokei produced around 12 limited edition designs annually, each of which was sold during the production of the play depicted. Kokei completed each print from start to finish – designing, carving, inking, printing, and, ultimately, destroying each block himself. These limited-edition prints were to be sold specifically at the theater. Beginning in May of 1985, members of the “Kokei-kai,” could sign up to purchase Kokei Tsuruya's designs for two year, and later, 15-month periods.

In 2000, after twenty-two years of actor prints, Kokei looked beyond the stage and the woodblock print. Over the next two decades, he developed a robust portfolio of self-portraits across different mediums. In 2017, Kokei returned to the woodblock print with his ongoing project Banzai Ukiyoe-ha Gosugata (Long Live the Five Figures of Ukiyo-e). These portraits breathe life into the ukiyo-e masters that inspired Kokei’s passion for the art form. Kokei Tsuruya’s work can be found in numerous institutions such as the British Museum, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Pacific Asia Museum, Yale University Art Gallery, and the Honolulu Museum of Art. In 2019, the Pacific Asia Museum at the University of Southern California held the retrospective Tsuruya Kokei: Modern Kabuki Prints Revised & Revisited.

Contemporary Japanese and East Asian Art

Ronin Gallery’s Contemporary art collection challenges the boundaries of tradition and innovation through the work of Japan's greatest contemporary artists and tomorrow’s most promising talents. Featured in museum exhibitions worldwide, contemporary Japanese and East Asian artists are pushing limits and exploring fresh techniques across mediums and styles. For many of the contemporary artists in this collection, inspiration sparks from an interweaving of old with new. Many combine traditional themes, tools, or materials with technology, contemporary themes, or innovative techniques. This hybrid expression is distinctly contemporary and unremittingly vital. From the Pop art legacy of the Shinohara’s to the foremost master of Japanese tattooing, Horiyoshi III, this collection of contemporary Japanese and East Asian art spans a wide range of media, including woodblock prints, screen prints, photography, etchings, paintings, sculpture, calligraphy, ceramics, and mixed media artworks.

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Availability

  • Available
  • Archive

Price

4200750

Artist

  • Chen, Long
  • Dai, Bin
  • Gakyo
  • Goto, Michiyoshi
  • Horiyoshi III
  • Iizuka, Kunio
  • Ishii, Toru
  • Ishimoto, Yasuhiro
  • Keibun
  • Kokei
  • Kusama, Yayoi
  • Ling, Junwu
  • Maeda, Morikazu
  • Magers, Michael
  • Nishigaki, Hayaki
  • Nishikawa, Yoichiro
  • Sarashina, Syu (Shu)
  • Shi, Yi
  • Suzuki, Eizin
  • Takahashi, Hiromitsu
  • Murakami, Takashi
  • Ukiyo-e Project (Publisher)
  • Van Otterloo, Chris
  • Yamao, Akio
  • Yoshida, Tsukasa
  • Araki, Shinko
  • Brayer, Sarah
  • Brown, Everett
  • Fang, Limin
  • Fujita, Fumio
  • Fukase, Masahisa
  • Funasaka, Yoshisuke
  • Fukami, Gashu
  • Gu, Zhijun
  • Hagiwara, Hideo
  • Hagiwara, Tsuneyoshi
  • Hao, Boyi
  • Hao, Ping
  • Hara, Takeshi
  • Hiratsuka, Yuji
  • Hironaga, Takehiko
  • Horie, Ryoichi
  • Hoshi, Joichi
  • Hosoe, Eikoh
  • Howard, Daryl
  • Ideguchi, Yuki
  • Ido, Masao
  • Ikai, Tadashi
  • Imaizumi, Tadayoshi
  • Iwasawa, Asako
  • Yuasa, Katsutoshi
  • Kawada, Kan
  • Kawase, Yoshihito
  • Okamoto, Kazuko
  • Kelly, Daniel
  • Kidokoro, Sho
  • Kimura, Yoshiharu
  • Korn, Marian
  • Kozaki, Kan
  • Kaneko, Kunio
  • Kuroda, Shigeki
  • Li, Yansong
  • Li, Yitai
  • Lin, Dunxi
  • Lippens, Josée
  • Liu, Chunhai
  • Lu, Chengqing
  • Lu, Ping
  • Lu, Zhiping
  • Ui, Machiko
  • Maki, Haku
  • Minami, Masahiko
  • Miyamoto, Shufu
  • Miyashita, Tokio
  • Morigo, Nao
  • Sato, Morihiro
  • Moriyama, Daido
  • Oi, Motoi
  • Nagano, Shigeichi
  • Naito, Tadayuki
  • Naito, Yachiyo
  • Nakayama, Tadashi
  • Namiki, Hajime
  • Ng, Cindy Sio Leng
  • Nishida, Tadashige
  • Nishijima, Katsuyuki
  • Sato, Nobuo
  • Norikane, Hiroto
  • Ogawa, Koichi
  • Ohashi, Shigeyuki
  • Ohba, Masao
  • Okamoto, Yoshimi
  • Osanai, Toshikage
  • Osugi, Shoji
  • Rome, Joshua
  • Tanaka, Ryohei
  • Sakamoto, Koichi
  • Sano, Seiji
  • Sato, Tokihiro
  • Shi, Ji-hong
  • Shibata, Toshio
  • Shimotakahara, Nobuteru
  • Shinoda, Toko
  • Shinohara, Noriko
  • Shinohara, Ushio
  • Shitanda, Zen
  • Suda, Issei
  • Sudo, Masato
  • Sugiura, Kazutoshi
  • Takeda, Hideo
  • Tamai, Cyoko
  • Tokuriki, Tomikichiro
  • Tomihari, Hiroshi
  • Kamoshita, Tomomi
  • Ueda, Yoshihiko
  • Unsigned / Unknown Artist
  • Ito, Wako
  • Williams, Brian
  • Wu, Yin
  • Xu, Ming
  • Yamaguchi, Keisuke (OZ)
  • Yamazaki, Hiroshi
  • Yang, Yongsheng
  • Yeh, Fang
  • Yeh, Lan
  • Yu, Chengyou
  • Nishimoto, Yuki
  • Katsuda, Yukio
  • Zhang, Yuanfeng

Subject

  • Actors & Theater
  • Beauties (bijin-ga)
  • Portraits
  • Spring

Period

  • 1945 - 1989 (Showa & Postwar Period)
  • 1989 - Today (Heisei & Reiwa)

Medium

  • Woodblock Print

Size

  • Medium (ie. Oban)
  • Large (ie. Triptych)

63 Products

Filtered By: Kokei
Ichikawa Danshiro IV as Akushichibyoe Kagekiyo

Kokei

Ichikawa Danshiro IV as Akushichibyoe Kagekiyo

JP-208086

$1,400.00
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Matsumoto Koshiro IX as Matsuomaru

Kokei

Matsumoto Koshiro IX as Matsuomaru

JP-208085

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Ichikawa Ennosuke III as Musashibo Benkei

Kokei

Ichikawa Ennosuke III as Musashibo Benkei

JP-208084

$1,400.00
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Kataoka Takao I as Fujiya Izaemon

Kokei

Kataoka Takao I as Fujiya Izaemon

JP-208083

$1,600.00
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Ichikawa Danjuro XII as Jiraiya

Kokei

Ichikawa Danjuro XII as Jiraiya

JP-208082

$1,100.00
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Kataoka Nizaemon XIII as Kawachiya Tokubei

Kokei

Kataoka Nizaemon XIII as Kawachiya Tokubei

JP-208081

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Onoe Baiko VII as Demon of Ibaraki

Kokei

Onoe Baiko VII as Demon of Ibaraki

JP-208080

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Kataoka Nizaemon XIII as Oboshi Yuranosuke

Kokei

Kataoka Nizaemon XIII as Oboshi Yuranosuke

JP-208079

$1,400.00
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Kawarazaki Gonjuro III as Sashichi

Kokei

Kawarazaki Gonjuro III as Sashichi

JP-208078

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Ichikawa Danjuro XII as Nango Rikimaru

Kokei

Ichikawa Danjuro XII as Nango Rikimaru

JP-208077

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Ichikawa Danjuro XII as Sasaki Takatsuna

Kokei

Ichikawa Danjuro XII as Sasaki Takatsuna

JP-208076

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Onoe Kikugoro VII as Kirare Yosaburo

Kokei

Onoe Kikugoro VII as Kirare Yosaburo

JP-208075

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Nakamura Tomijuro V as Ko no Morono

Kokei

Nakamura Tomijuro V as Ko no Morono

JP-208074

$2,200.00
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Ichikawa Sadanji IV as Sagisaka Bannai

Kokei

Ichikawa Sadanji IV as Sagisaka Bannai

JP-208073

$920.00
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Kataoka Takao I as Teraokaya Heiemon

Kokei

Kataoka Takao I as Teraokaya Heiemon

JP-208070

$1,800.00
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Ichikawa Danshiro IV as Ferryman Tonbei

Kokei

Ichikawa Danshiro IV as Ferryman Tonbei

JP-208069

$980.00
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Bando Tamasaburo V as Ochika, Wife of Koheiji

Kokei

Bando Tamasaburo V as Ochika, Wife of Koheiji

JP-208067

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Onoe Baiko VII as Chiyo, Wife of Matsuomaru

Kokei

Onoe Baiko VII as Chiyo, Wife of Matsuomaru

JP-208066

$1,600.00
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Bando Tamasaburo V as Furin Ohime

Kokei

Bando Tamasaburo V as Furin Ohime

JP-208064

$1,400.00
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Nakamura Utaemon VI as Tonami, Wife of Honzo

Kokei

Nakamura Utaemon VI as Tonami, Wife of Honzo

JP-208063

SOLD

Onoe Baiko VII as Mokuzume Daughter of Taguma House

Kokei

Onoe Baiko VII as Mokuzume Daughter of Taguma House

JP-208062

SOLD

Nakamura Utaemon VI as Masaoka and Nakamura Shikan VII as Okinoi

Kokei

Nakamura Utaemon VI as Masaoka and Nakamura Shikan VII as Okinoi

JP-208061

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Nakamura Shikan VII as Widow Hagi no Kata

Kokei

Nakamura Shikan VII as Widow Hagi no Kata

JP-208060

$1,600.00
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Bando Tamasaburo V as Ama Matsukaze

Kokei

Bando Tamasaburo V as Ama Matsukaze

JP-208058

$1,600.00
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