Six Japanese oban, including: Kanaya [24th Tokaido Station]; Kusatsu [52nd Tokaido Station]; an oban depicting two figures by Toyokuni III; and an oban of Yuki-hime [representing the Year of The Rat] from the Mitate Jun-ishi [Selected Histories of the12 Zodiac signs] by Utagawa Kuniyoshi [6]For another print from the Mitate Jun-ishi series, see British Museum 2008, 3037.13107.The small Rat in the colophon of the Kuniyoshi print here is typical of the rather oblique references to the Zodiac which regularly appear within the Ukiyo-e genre. See for example the Hokusai surimono depicting a merchant with his horse, dating the image to the year of The Horse [1798]. Woodblock printers were thereby able to also provide an aide-memoire for the complicated calendar system of the Edo Period, creating calendars known as 'egoyomi' [Source: 'The Frank Lloyd Wright Collection of Surimono' by Joan B. Mirviss/1995]. Please note that this is a group lot where each image is framed; areas of deterioration, soiling, fugitive colour, and other paper or colour damage. The Yuki-hime with fugitive colour apparent in a number of places including both kimono and rat.