The Actor Nakamura Noshio I as the Fox-Wife from Furui, in a Dance Sequence (Shosagoto) in Part Two of the Play Izu-goyomi Shibai no Ganjitsu (First Perfomance Day of the Izu Calendar), Performed at the Morita Theater from the First Day of the Eleventh Month, 1772

Documented through ukiyo-e.org from the Art Institute of Chicago, this Katsukawa Shunsho yakusha-e captures Nakamura Noshio I as the Fox-Wife of Furui in a dance sequence (shosagoto) from Part Two of Izu-goyomi Shibai no Ganjitsu (First Performance Day of the Izu Calendar), staged at the Morita Theater from the first day of the Eleventh Month, 1772. The fox-wife is one of the most beloved transformation roles in kabuki, drawing on folk tales in which a vixen takes human form and lives among mortals before her animal nature is exposed. Noshio I, an admired onnagata, was particularly identified with such dance pieces, and the shosagoto context allowed for fluid, lyric staging supported by joruri musical narration. Shunsho composes the figure in a swirling pose, the long sleeves trailing as Noshio twists in mid-step, suggesting the vulpine grace of the role. As founder of the Katsukawa school, Shunsho was at the leading edge of yakusha-e in Edo ukiyo-e, treating the actor as an individual whose body in motion deserved preservation. The kimono patterning — likely featuring foxy motifs of grass, paulownia, or other folkloric references — is printed with the disciplined alignment characteristic of leading 1770s Edo workshops. Against an undifferentiated ground, the dancing figure is the entire composition, embodying Shunsho's principle that the actor's body, properly drawn and printed, did not require landscape or stage architecture to be theatrically eloquent.