The Actor Ichikawa Ebizo (Danjuro V) as Banzui Chobei in the Play Gozen-gakari Sumo Soga, Performed at the Kawarazaki Theater in the Second Month, 1793

Katsukawa Shunei portrays the towering Edo star Ichikawa Ebizo, better known as the fifth Ichikawa Danjuro, in the role of the legendary commoner-chivalric figure Banzui Chobei, in a 1793 production of Gozen-gakari Sumo Soga at the Kawarazaki Theater. Banzui Chobei, the Edo-period otokodate or chivalrous townsman who stood up to lawless samurai retainers, was one of the most charged roles in the kabuki repertory, fusing populist defiance with stoic resolve, and Danjuro V was peculiarly suited to it. Shunei renders him with the broad-shouldered, heavy-jawed presence and emphatic mie pose that the actor made his trademark, the costume rendered in strong linear pattern and the face given the specific likeness for which the Katsukawa school's contribution to Edo yakusha-e was prized. As the leading pupil of Katsukawa Shunsho, Shunei specialized in capturing the major stars of his generation, and Ichikawa Danjuro V was a recurring subject whose successive roles Shunei followed from production to production. Kabuki actor prints functioned as advertising, fan memorabilia, and historical record, all at once, and Shunei's sheet here both publicized a current run and ensured that this particular Banzui Chobei would survive in collectors' albums. The Art Institute of Chicago preserves this impression as part of its substantial holding of Katsukawa school portraits of the Ichikawa Danjuro line.