The Actors Tomizawa Hanzaburo II as Nagoya Sanzaemon (often called Sanza) (right), Nakamura Juzo II as Fuwa Banzaemon (center), and an Unidentified Actor as the Pickpocket Matsumoto Daishichi (left), in the Play Fuki Kaete Tsuki mo Yoshiwara, Performed at the Morita Theater in the Eleventh Month, 1771

This color woodblock print by Katsukawa Shunsho records a performance at the Morita Theater in the eleventh month of 1771, depicting Tomizawa Hanzaburo II as the rogue Nagoya Sanzaemon, Nakamura Juzo II as his rival Fuwa Banzaemon, and an unidentified actor as the pickpocket Matsumoto Daishichi, in the play Fuki Kaete Tsuki mo Yoshiwara. The rivalry between Nagoya Sanza and Fuwa Banzaemon, set against the pleasure quarters of the Yoshiwara, was one of the most popular dramatic conceits of Edo kabuki, juxtaposing two stylish ruffians whose elaborate cloaks and swagger had become iconic in their own right. Shunsho stages the three figures across the sheet with a balance of contrasting postures, and the individualised features of each actor are rendered in the new style of yakusha-e that the Katsukawa school had introduced to Edo ukiyo-e. The eleventh-month kaomise season was a prime moment for commercial print publishers, and Shunsho's designs functioned as both portraiture and theatrical reporting for an audience of collectors. The print is preserved in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, where it documents Edo theatrical culture of 1771 and stands as a representative example of the Katsukawa school's approach to multi-figure actor compositions during a particularly creative phase of Shunsho's career.