Actor Arashi Rikan as Mashiba Hisayoshi

This circa 1830 Osaka kamigata-e [yakusha-e](/glossary/yakusha-e) by Gigadō Ashiyuki, held by the Victoria and Albert Museum (accession 28552:14, system O391506), depicts the actor Arashi Rikan II in the role of Mashiba Hisayoshi. The role of Mashiba Hisayoshi was the standard stage name for the historical Toyotomi Hideyoshi under Edo-period censorship laws that forbade direct depiction of the Toyotomi family on the kabuki stage, and the part offered the leading tachiyaku a vehicle for heroic-warlord performance in the jidaimono repertoire. Rikan II's interpretation of the role around 1830 placed him in the lineage of Osaka stars who had taken the part, including Arashi Kitsusaburō I, whose 1821 portrait in the same role by Shunkōsai Hokushū at the V&A (O111195) gives a useful paired record of the same character across two different actor interpretations and two different print designers. The print is preserved as a woodblock print on paper in the ōban format, mounted within an album in the V&A's collection (28552:14, system O391506). The album format is typical of how Osaka kamigata-e arrived at the V&A through the Anderson collection in 1886, with multiple prints bound together as study volumes. Ashiyuki's composition follows his mature template: a tightly cropped half-length view, attention to facial expression as the carrier of character, and the careful inscription of role and actor that anchors the print to the specific Bunsei-era Osaka production.