The pictures on signs or billboards displayed in front of *kabuki 歌舞伎 puppet theaters, which became popular in the early 18th century.
Signs of this type included daimyōdai kanban 大名題看板, which include titles of comic interludes kyōgen 狂言 with pictures of the main roles above them, and shōmyōdai kanban 小名題看板 containing more detailed explanations of the kyōgen. Three, four, or even five tower signs, roka kanban 櫓下看板 were hung below the turret of the theater, inscribed with the names of the theater manager or leading female roles. Later, this arrangement was changed to include names of the important acting roles and the contents of the kyōgen grouped together on a single sign. The signs were arranged with the daimyōdai kanban beneath the tower on the lower left (as you face the entrance) and the shōmyōdai kanban positioned to the left of that. A sign with the list of actors and roles, yakuwari kanban 役割看板 was hung to the left under the tower to the right of the pictures sign e-kanban. Around 1830-44, the three kabuki theaters of Edo were moved to Asakusa 浅草 and in order to advertise their new location to the public, the theaters devised special pictorial signs hung on cross-pieces beneath the tower tsurikanban 釣看板, to attract patrons to their opening.
Pictorial signs for puppet theaters are said to have existed from as early as the 1670's-80s, but almost none remain. Successive generations of Torii artists *Torii-ha 鳥居派 painted e-kanban in Edo, beginning with Torii Kiyomoto 鳥居清元 (1645?-1702) who moved to Edo with his son Kiyonobu 清信 (1664-1729). In the early decades of the 18th century, Torii followers established a heroic style of painting called hyōtan ashi mimizugaki 瓢箪足蚯蚓描. Other artists such as Katsushika Hokusai 葛飾北斎 (1760-1849), Utagawa Toyoharu 歌川豊春 (1735-1814), Toyokuni 2 二代豊国 (1802-35), and Kunisada 国貞 (Toyokuni 3: 1786-1865) were requested to paint theater signs for special occasions, but the Torii style was generally favored.