The Actor Ichikawa Danjuro V in a "Shibaraku" Role, Probably as Kato Hyoeisa Shigemitsu, in the Third Scene of the Play Masakado Kammuri no Hatsuyuki (The First Snow on Taira no Masakado's Court Headdress), Performed at the Nakamura Theater in the Eleventh Month, 1777

Katsukawa Shunsho records Ichikawa Danjuro V in a Shibaraku role, probably Kato Hyoeisa Shigemitsu, in the third scene of Masakado Kammuri no Hatsuyuki ("The First Snow on Taira no Masakado's Court Headdress"), performed at the Nakamura Theater in the eleventh month of 1777. Shibaraku is one of the defining set-pieces of aragoto rough-style kabuki, in which a hero in oversized persimmon-colored robes bursts onto the runway shouting "Shibaraku!" ("Wait a moment!") to halt an injustice. Danjuro V, head of the Ichikawa line that invented and owned the aragoto tradition, is shown in the signature pose with one foot planted forward and the enormous square-sleeved kamishimo flaring out behind him. Shunsho's design, held by the Art Institute of Chicago, captures the costume's painted bold-stripe pattern and the actor's heavy face make-up of bold red kumadori lines on white, which marked the role as supernaturally strong. Within Edo ukiyo-e, Shunsho's yakusha-e were the first to treat such moments as portraits of specific players rather than generic types, and this Katsukawa school sheet is unmistakably Danjuro V rather than an interchangeable aragoto hero. The print would have been published within weeks of the kaomise (face-showing) season opening, helping Edo theatergoers identify the season's stars and remember favorite scenes. Surviving impressions like this one are an essential primary source for the history of kabuki costume and for the visual conventions of the Katsukawa school during Shunsho's most influential decade.