The Actor Arashi Hinaji, from "A Picture Book of Stage Fans (Ehon butai ogi)"

This page, in the Art Institute of Chicago, comes from Ehon butai ogi, the picture book of stage fans first published in Edo in 1770 with designs by Ippitsusai Buncho and Katsukawa Shunsho. The print depicts the Edo kabuki actor Arashi Hinaji within the conceit that organizes the entire volume: each actor portrait is presented as if it were the painted surface of a folding stage fan, fusing the visual conventions of yakusha-e or kabuki actor prints with the everyday object of the fan. Buncho and Shunsho's collaboration on Ehon butai ogi is regarded as a landmark moment in Edo ukiyo-e because it consolidated the new mode of individualized actor portraiture for which both men became known, while also packaging that portraiture into a luxurious illustrated book aimed at connoisseurs. The Art Institute of Chicago's holding of pages from the book preserves Buncho's contribution to this collaborative project at a level of detail that supports continued attribution research, since the two artists shared compositional habits while differing in line and facial detail. As a portrait of Arashi Hinaji, this sheet records one performer's likeness as it was understood within mid-Edo kabuki, and as a page of Ehon butai ogi it stands as one component of a foundational document of Edo theatrical printmaking.