The Actor Otani Hiroji III as Abe no Muneto Disguised as a Peddler of Buckwheat Noodles, in the Play Otokoyama Yunzei Kurabe, Performed at the Ichimura Theater in the Eleventh Month, 1768

Katsukawa Shunsho's print in the Art Institute of Chicago documents Otani Hiroji III in the role of Abe no Muneto, a historical figure from the eleventh-century Zenkunen War, disguised in this dramatization as a humble peddler of buckwheat noodles. The play, Otokoyama Yunzei Kurabe, ran at the Ichimura theater in the eleventh month of 1768, a date that places the production in the heart of the Meiwa era when Shunsho's still-young Katsukawa school was consolidating its grip on the yakusha-e market. The convention of having heroic warriors take disguised forms in everyday occupations was a beloved feature of kabuki dramaturgy, allowing playwrights to mix high and low and providing actors with virtuoso opportunities to embody dual identities. Otani Hiroji III, a popular character actor of the period, was particularly suited to such roles, where physical presence and the suggestion of hidden nobility could carry the dramatic argument. Shunsho's design captures the dual nature of the role: the peddler's workaday equipment marks Muneto's outward disguise while the actor's bearing hints at the warrior beneath. Edo ukiyo-e of this period turned increasingly toward the documentary function of recording specific performances at named theaters in identified months, and prints like this one were collected as both aesthetic objects and theatrical mementos. Shunsho's commitment to capturing the individual physiognomy of the performer, the defining innovation of the Katsukawa school, gives the print an enduring portrait character that transcends its function as a souvenir. The Art Institute impression preserves the firm linear structure and selective color that defined the school's house style.