The Actors Nakamura Utaemon I as Karashi Baba (right), and Ichikawa Danjuro IV as Sanshodayu (left), in the Play Kawaranu Hanasakae Hachi no Ki, Performed at the Nakamura Theater in the Eleventh Month, 1769

Katsukawa Shunsho produced this two-actor print around 1764, depicting Nakamura Utaemon I as Karashi Baba and Ichikawa Danjuro IV as Sanshodayu in the play Kawaranu Hanasakae Hachi no Ki, staged at the Nakamura Theater. The drama draws on the noh play Hachi no Ki and its tale of the impoverished samurai who sacrifices his cherished potted trees to warm a wandering monk who proves to be the regent Hojo Tokiyori in disguise. The play's themes of loyalty, hospitality, and concealed identity made it ideal kabuki material, and Shunsho captures the actors in pivotal roles. Utaemon I appears on the right as Karashi Baba, his face conveying the role's emotional weight, while Danjuro IV stands at the left as Sanshodayu, his costume embellished with the bold patterning suited to the head of the Ichikawa acting lineage. The Katsukawa school's signature contribution to Edo ukiyo-e was the move toward individualized actor portraiture, replacing the formulaic faces of the earlier Torii artists, and this print exemplifies how Shunsho coordinated two distinct likenesses within a single composition. The work also illustrates the kabuki adaptation of noh sources, a recurring strategy in eighteenth-century theatrical writing. This impression is preserved at the Art Institute of Chicago, where it joins a substantial collection of yakusha-e documenting the major kabuki performances of mid-Edo Japan and the rapid evolution of the Katsukawa school's visual style.