The Actors Arashi Sangoro II as Hojo Tokiyori (right), and Otani Hiroji III as Koga Saburo (left), in the Play Kono Hana Yotsugi no Hachi no Ki, Performed at the Ichimura Theater in the Eleventh Month, 1771

This color woodblock print by Katsukawa Shunsho records a kabuki performance at the Ichimura Theater in the eleventh month of 1771, depicting Arashi Sangoro II as the regent Hojo Tokiyori on the right and Otani Hiroji III as the impoverished retainer Koga Saburo on the left, in the play Kono Hana Yotsugi no Hachi no Ki. The plot, drawn from the famous noh-derived legend of the bonsai-burning loyal retainer who receives Hojo Tokiyori under a snowstorm, was a staple of the Edo theatrical repertoire and had been adapted repeatedly into kabuki form. Shunsho stages the two actors in poses that contrast Tokiyori's quiet authority with Saburo's humbler bearing, both rendered with the individualised features that defined the new style of yakusha-e introduced by the Katsukawa school. The eleventh-month kaomise season was the year's most important commercial moment for Edo print publishers, and Shunsho's designs gave collectors souvenirs of the season's star turns. The print is preserved in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, where it forms part of a documented record of the 1771 Edo theatre season and stands as a strong example of Shunsho's mature approach to two-figure yakusha-e compositions.