Bando Mitsugoro I in the Role of Asahina no Saburo, Drama "Sono Kyodai Fuji no Sugatami"

This Katsukawa Shunkō print, dated 1776 and held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, depicts Bandō Mitsugorō I in the role of Asahina no Saburō in the drama Sono Kyōdai Fuji no Sugatami. Asahina no Saburō (or Asahina Saburō Yoshihide) was a legendary twelfth-century warrior renowned for his physical strength, and his character figured frequently in kabuki adaptations of medieval war tales (gunki-mono). The character was a stock vehicle for actors specializing in muscular, dynamic male roles (aragoto), where exaggerated poses and red-line makeup (kumadori) projected a larger-than-life heroic presence. Bandō Mitsugorō I was a major actor of the mid-eighteenth-century Edo stage and the founder of one of the most important Bandō acting lineages, whose later members would dominate kabuki into the nineteenth century. Shunkō's print captures the actor in a specific theatrical moment, with the rich costume, sword, and confident stance typical of the role. The 1776 date places this work squarely in Shunkō's prime period, when he was producing his most accomplished hosoban actor portraits as a senior member of the Katsukawa atelier under Shunshō. The Metropolitan Museum of Art's record of this print preserves not only Shunkō's design but also a snapshot of a specific 1776 Edo theater production.