The Actor Nakamura Matsue I as Tsuchiya Umegawa Disguised as the Female Sumo Wrestler Oyodo (?) in the Play Naniwa no Onna-zumo (?), Performed at the Nakamura Theater (?) in the Sixth Month, 1770 (?)

This Ippitsusai Buncho hosoban print in the Art Institute of Chicago records the actor Nakamura Matsue I in a striking female disguise role: Tsuchiya Umegawa appearing as the female sumo wrestler Oyodo in a play tentatively identified as Naniwa no Onna-zumo, performed at the Nakamura Theater in the sixth month of 1770. The premise of an onnagata, or male actor specializing in female roles, taking on a part that involved women's sumo allowed for a particularly memorable costume and stance, and Buncho's design exploits that potential within the slender vertical proportions of the hosoban sheet. Buncho was active in Edo ukiyo-e from the mid-1760s through about 1772 and produced yakusha-e for many of the leading Edo kabuki actors of the period, including those at the Nakamura, Ichimura, and Morita theaters. His prints are usually inscribed with the names of role and actor, and they pay close attention to the patterns of robes and the carriage of the body, both of which were essential to onnagata performance. The Art Institute of Chicago notes several uncertainties about the play title, theater, and date for this image, marked in the title with question marks, but the actor identification and the visual record of his costume remain key data for reconstructing the season. The sheet exemplifies how Edo ukiyo-e actor prints functioned as both decorative images and theatrical documentation.