日本戯曲全集 第二十卷
A 1929 Japanese anthology of kabuki and drama texts, edited by Watanabe Seitarō and published by Shunyōdō, collecting plays from the Edo period. The four woodblock-style prints show crowded stage and street scenes of kimono-clad figures in tense group poses, with calligraphic captions and dialogue set in columns beside them. A designer might take their dense overlapping figures, dynamic diagonal action and handwritten text panels as models for busy editorial layouts.
