Yakusha te-Kagami

Yakusha te-Kagami is an undated woodblock print by Isoda Koryusai whose title, literally Actor Hand Mirror, identifies it as part of a small body of actor-related material produced by an artist far better known for his Edo bijin-ga and kacho-e than for kabuki imagery. Hand-mirror titles in Edo printmaking generally pointed to compact portrait formats, with each actor or subject presented as if reflected in a small mirror, the visual conceit lending the series the immediacy of a personal viewing. Koryusai's actor work has always sat at the periphery of his reputation, overshadowed by the Yoshiwara fashion plates of Hinagata Wakana no Hatsu Moyo, but it confirms his engagement with the full range of ukiyo-e subjects available to him in the late 1770s and early 1780s. The samurai-trained draftsmanship that gave his courtesan portraits their disciplined contour translates here into the controlled facial drawing that yakusha-e required, where individual likeness mattered alongside the conventional kumadori makeup and costume of kabuki performance. The undated nature of the print precludes precise dating, but the visual idiom is consistent with Koryusai's mature output. The Art Institute of Chicago holds this impression among its Koryusai holdings, where it documents the breadth of subject matter the artist treated and provides a counterpoint to the bijin-ga that has come to dominate modern understanding of his career.