The Actors Ichikawa Danzo IV as Arakawa Taro Takesada Disguised as the Palanquin Bearer Tarobei (right), and Ichikawa Danjuro V as Abe no Sadato Disguised as the Pilgrim Kuriyagawa Jirodayu (left), in the Play Godai Genji Mitsugi no Furisode, Performed at the Nakamura Theater in the Eleventh Month, 1782

This Katsukawa Shunsho diptych presents Ichikawa Danzo IV as Arakawa Taro Takesada disguised as the palanquin bearer Tarobei on the right and Ichikawa Danjuro V as Abe no Sadato disguised as the pilgrim Kuriyagawa Jirodayu on the left, in Godai Genji Mitsugi no Furisode, performed at the Nakamura Theater in the eleventh month of 1782. The play belongs to the layered jidaimono tradition in which historical or quasi-historical aristocratic figures move through the contemporary world in lower-status disguises, allowing for rapid theatrical transformations and elaborate identity reveals. Shunsho's two-sheet yakusha-e takes full advantage of this dramaturgy: the two actors are linked by composition across the join, their costumes -- a palanquin bearer's working dress on the right, a pilgrim's white robes on the left -- contrasted in colour and pattern. The faces preserve the recognisable physiognomies of Danzo IV and Danjuro V, the two leading male players of the Nakamura troupe at the time. The set is held in the Clarence Buckingham Collection at the Art Institute of Chicago. Like the other Shunsho prints recording this 1782 kaomise programme, it shows the Katsukawa school at its mature peak of activity, providing Edo ukiyo-e collectors with carefully observed records of the season's most important multi-actor scenes.