The Actors Nakamura Nakazo I as Omi no Kotoda (right), and Otani Hiroji III as Bamba no Chuda (left), in the Joruri "Sono Chidori Yowa no Kamisuki" (The Plovers: Combing Hair at Midnight), from Part Two of the Play O-atsurae-zome Soga no Hinagata (A Soga Pattern Dyed to Order), Performed at the Nakamura Theater from the Tenth Day of the Third Month, 1774

Katsukawa Shunsho here pairs Nakamura Nakazo I as Omi no Kotoda with Otani Hiroji III as Bamba no Chuda in the joruri dance interlude Sono Chidori Yowa no Kamisuki (The Plovers: Combing Hair at Midnight), an episode embedded in Part Two of the Soga-themed play O-atsurae-zome Soga no Hinagata staged at the Nakamura Theater from the tenth day of the third month, 1774. Now in the Art Institute of Chicago, the print belongs to the dense field of Edo ukiyo-e that the Katsukawa school produced to serve kabuki fans hungry for images of the latest hits. Soga revenge dramas, mounted nearly every spring at one of Edo's licensed theaters, were the seasonal centerpiece of the kabuki calendar, and Shunsho's yakusha-e tracked their casts with near-journalistic regularity. Two-actor compositions such as this one allowed him to suggest dramatic relationship through opposed stances, paired gazes, and complementary patterning of the costumes. Nakazo, celebrated for his subtle internalized acting, and Hiroji, known for muscular villainy, gave Shunsho contrasting physiques to interpret in his characteristically individualized facial drawing. The Katsukawa school's hosoban diptychs of this period helped establish the convention by which collectors could reconstruct an entire Edo ukiyo-e cast through assembled single sheets, each preserving a moment from a specific performance.