The Actor Ichikawa Danjuro V as Sakata Hyogonosuke Kintoki, in the Play Shitenno Tonoi no Kisewata (Raiko's Four Intrepid Retainers in the Costume of the Night Watch), Performed at the Nakamura Theater from the First Day of the Eleventh Month, 1781

Held by the Art Institute of Chicago and documented through ukiyo-e.org, this Katsukawa Shunsho yakusha-e shows Ichikawa Danjuro V as Sakata Hyogonosuke Kintoki in Shitenno Tonoi no Kisewata (Raiko's Four Intrepid Retainers in the Costume of the Night Watch), performed at the Nakamura Theater from the first day of the Eleventh Month, 1781. The four retainers of the Heian-era hero Minamoto no Raiko — Watanabe no Tsuna, Sakata no Kintoki, Urabe no Suetake, and Usui no Sadamitsu — were foundational figures of Japanese warrior legend, and Sakata Kintoki, originally the boy-hero Kintaro raised on Mount Ashigara, was one of the most popular roles in the cycle. Danjuro V, the towering aragoto star of the late eighteenth century, here inhabits Kintoki as Hyogonosuke (Vice-Director of the Military Headquarters), bringing his trademark bold acting to a part already saturated with bravura. Shunsho composes the figure in a wide, planted stance, robes spreading outward, hands assuming a controlled tension. As founder of the Katsukawa school, Shunsho had codified the actor-portrait approach that gave individuated facial features as much weight as costume, and Danjuro V's features are unmistakable here. The print belongs to the kaomise season, when each Edo theater rolled out its troupe for the coming year, and yakusha-e of leading roles like Kintoki served both as theater advertisements and as collectible portraits within the broader Edo ukiyo-e marketplace.