Actor Bandô Matatarô IV as Gempachibyôe in “Snowflakes: Plum Blossoms Kaomise” (“Mutsu no hana ume no kaomise”)

This 1764 print by Katsukawa Shunsho depicts Bando Matataro IV in the role of Gempachibyoe in the kaomise production Mutsu no hana ume no kaomise, translated as Snowflakes: Plum Blossoms Kaomise. The kaomise, or face-showing performance, was the annual eleventh-month event in which Edo theaters introduced their newly contracted troupe for the coming year, and these productions tended to feature elaborate spectacle and seasonal motifs drawn from the winter landscape. Shunsho presents Matataro IV in a single-figure composition, his costume embellished with patterns that signal the wintry setting and his stance keyed to the dramatic moment depicted on stage. The actor's individualized facial features reflect the defining innovation of Katsukawa school yakusha-e, which broke decisively from the generic faces of the preceding Torii school tradition to capture each performer's distinctive physiognomy. The Edo ukiyo-e print market depended on such productions as marketing for the new theatrical season, and prints documenting kaomise performances helped fix the troupe's lineup in the popular imagination before the New Year programming began. Founded by Shunsho around 1760, the Katsukawa school would dominate kabuki portraiture for nearly four decades and serve as the training ground for major successors including Shunko, Shunei, and the young Katsushika Hokusai. This impression is held by the Art Institute of Chicago, an institution that has preserved a substantial corpus of Shunsho's actor prints and supports continuing scholarship on the Katsukawa school's role in Edo theatrical culture.