The Actors Otani Hiroji III as Yokambei (right), Nakamura Tomijuro I as Kuzunoha (center), and Bando Mitsugoro I as Yakambei (left), in the Last Scene from the Play Shinodazuma (The Wife from Shinoda Forest), Performed as a Supplement to the Play Kikyo-zome Onna Urakata (Female Diviner in Deep Violet), at the Morita Theater from the Ninth Day of the Ninth Month, 1776

Katsukawa Shunsho stages a three-actor confrontation in this Art Institute of Chicago triptych composition, drawn from the final scene of Shinodazuma (The Wife from Shinoda Forest), a supplementary piece presented with Kikyo-zome Onna Urakata at the Morita Theater from the ninth day of the ninth month, 1776. At right Otani Hiroji III appears as Yokambei, at center Nakamura Tomijuro I as Kuzunoha, and at left Bando Mitsugoro I as Yakambei. Shinodazuma's tale, in which a fox spirit takes human form as Kuzunoha and becomes the mother of the future Onmyoji master Abe no Seimei, was a touchstone of the kabuki and joruri repertoire, lending itself to spectacular transformation acting. Shunsho's organization of the three figures across linked hosoban sheets exemplifies the Katsukawa school's understanding that yakusha-e could function not only as single portraits but as reconstructions of decisive stage moments. Tomijuro I, given the central position, holds the supernatural weight of the scene, while the flanking male actors register the human terror and confusion the fox-wife's revelation provokes. The print is among the more elaborate examples of Shunsho's mid-1770s production, when the Katsukawa school had consolidated its dominance over Edo ukiyo-e theatrical printmaking.