The Actors Arashi Kitsusaburō II as the Hairdresser Kamiyui Tasuke, and Arashi Koroku IV as Gonza the Lancer (Yari no Gonza)

This 1824 Osaka kamigata-e yakusha-e by Gigadō Ashiyuki, held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (accession 2020.298), depicts the actors Arashi Kitsusaburō II as the hairdresser Kamiyui Tasuke and Arashi Koroku IV as Gonza the Lancer (Yari no Gonza). The pairing draws on the Osaka kabuki staging of Yari no Gonza Kasane Katabira, a classic domestic drama (sewamono) of marital intrigue and ultimately tragic confrontation between the lancer Gonza and the hairdresser Tasuke, whose competing involvement with the lady Osai sets the play's catastrophe in motion. Ashiyuki's composition gives equal billing to the two figures, each tightly framed in the vertical ōban format and each rendered with the careful attention to facial expression and costume crests that defined Osaka kamigata-e yakusha-e of the Bunsei period. The print measures approximately 39.1 by 27 centimeters as a vertical ōban nishiki-e (multi-color woodblock print) executed in ink and color on paper, dimensions consistent with the standard Osaka kamigata-e format Ashiyuki used throughout his mature career. The accession was acquired in a 2020 group of Ashiyuki prints (2020.298 through 2020.299) that signaled the Met's recognition of Osaka yakusha-e as a school deserving dedicated representation alongside Edo ukiyo-e. The Yari no Gonza play remains one of the most performed sewamono in the Osaka repertoire, and Ashiyuki's portrait of the 1824 production documents one of Arashi Kitsusaburō II's signature appearances in the supporting hairdresser role.