Great Mirror of Japan`s Sumo Wrestlers.
(Dai Nippon Ōzumō Sekitori Kagami, 大日本大相撲関取鏡).

This impressive diptych gathers many of the leading professional sumō wrestlers of early Meiji Japan. Each figure is identified by name, creating a visual record of the sport`s elite at a time when Japan was rapidly modernizing.
Combining portraiture, ranking information, and popular entertainment, the print reflects the enduring appeal of sumō during one of the country`s most transformative eras.
The print is signed "Ichiyōsai Toyokuni hitsu" (一陽斎豊国筆) and dated March 1873 (Meiji 6), nearly a decade after the death of Utagawa Kunisada I. It is therefore most likely attributable to Utagawa Kunisada II, who continued the Toyokuni lineage during the early Meiji period. An alternative possibility is that the print represents a posthumous publication based on woodblocks originally designed by Kunisada I and subsequently revised to update the list of wrestlers and publication details. In the absence of a publisher`s catalogue or a contemporary reference explicitly crediting the artist, both hypotheses remain plausible.