Nippon Post Inauguration of the Japanese National Theatre

NIPPON POST on 11 January 1966 issued a First Day Cover stamp marking the Inauguration of the Japanese National Theatre. The stamp depicted "Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami" (Sugawara and the Secrets of Calligraphy). It was painted by Utagawa Kunisada had a face value of 25Y. This  maxim card is affixed with the same stamp design. 

"Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami" is a traditional Japanese play that has been performed in bunraku and kabuki, and was jointly written by Takeda Izumo I, Takeda Izumo II, Namiki Sōsuke and Miyoshi Shōraku. Along with Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura and Kanadehon Chūshingura, it is one of the three most famous and popular plays in the kabuki repertoire. Sugawara was first performed as a puppet play in August 1746 at the Takemoto-za in Osaka, debuting on the kabuki stage the following month in Kyoto.