The Actor Nakamura Kojuro VI in a Daisho no Mai (Sword Dance), in the Play Gion Nyogo, Performed at the Nakamura Theater in the Tenth Month, 1786

Katsukawa Shunsho here captures Nakamura Kojuro VI in a daisho no mai, a long-and-short sword dance, in Gion Nyogo, performed at the Nakamura Theater in the tenth month of 1786. Sword-dance scenes were stylised display sequences in which the actor combined choreographed movement with the handling of a paired sword and dagger, demanding precise control of both posture and prop. Nakamura Kojuro VI was a leading male performer in Edo in the mid-1780s, and Shunsho's hosoban yakusha-e captures the suspended moment of the dance: weight on one leg, blade angled across the body, costume flowing with the motion. The Katsukawa school treatment provides individualised likeness for the face -- a hallmark of Shunsho's contribution to Edo ukiyo-e -- while the surrounding composition is reduced to costume, blade and contour, with no extraneous setting. The print is held in the Clarence Buckingham Collection at the Art Institute of Chicago. Such single-figure yakusha-e of sword-dance scenes form an important strand within Shunsho's output, documenting the choreographic vocabulary of late eighteenth-century kabuki as well as the personal style of its leading players. The image also reflects the continuing role of the tenth-month programme, which preceded the kaomise opening, as a venue for spectacular display pieces.