The Actor Nakamura Nakazo I as Ono Sadakuro in the Play Kanadehon Chushingura, Performed at the Nakamura Theater in the Fifth Month, 1776

This Katsukawa Shunsho yakusha-e, dated to around 1771, depicts Nakamura Nakazo I as Ono Sadakuro in the play Kanadehon Chushingura at the Nakamura Theater. Sadakuro is the rogue son of one of the loyal retainers in the Chushingura cycle, the celebrated dramatization of the forty-seven ronin revenge tale that became the single most performed kabuki story of the Edo period. Nakazo I famously redefined the role of Sadakuro by abandoning the conventional villain costume in favor of an elegant black kimono with white obi, transforming the character from a cartoonish villain into a brooding, even glamorous figure of menace. Shunsho captures the actor in this signature interpretation, with the simplified palette throwing emphasis on the actor's commanding stage presence and individualized features. As founder of the Katsukawa school, Shunsho pioneered the move toward recognizable actor likenesses in Edo ukiyo-e, displacing the generic conventions of the earlier Torii school. His pupils Shunko, Shunei, and the young Hokusai trained within his workshop, and the Katsukawa style dominated yakusha-e for nearly four decades. The Chushingura cycle's recurring revivals across Edo's three licensed theaters generated continuous demand for new actor prints documenting each fresh production. This impression is preserved at the Art Institute of Chicago. The print provides important evidence of Nakazo I's innovative approach to a defining kabuki role and Shunsho's role in fixing that interpretation in popular memory.