Fujiwara Tankaikou

This Ukiyo-e features a kabuki scene that is set in a sake shop. In the back, it shows sake casks wrapped in ‘komo’ with a brand label and also sake bottles that are known as ‘binbou dokkuri’ (lit. poor man’s sake bottle) with the logo of the shop. Sake was sold by volume at the time, and binbou dokkuri were used by customers to take home sake they bought. Typically, both sake casks wrapped in komo and binbou dokkuri featured the logos of the brewery and the shop for advertising purposes during shipping and transportation. Being displayed in kabuki was an effective way of advertising sake.

Artist: Utagawa Toyokuni
Published: Kaei 2 (1849)

Waseda University Theater Museum (Reference Number: 100-2933)