The Actor Bando Hikosaburo II as Fujitaro, disguised as the ferryman Tomokichi, in the play "Shomei Mugen no Kane," performed at the Nakamura Theater in the ninth month, 1767

This 1767 hosoban benizuri-e color woodblock print at the Art Institute of Chicago shows the actor Bando Hikosaburo II as Fujitaro, disguised as the ferryman Tomokichi, in the kabuki play Shomei Mugen no Kane, performed at the Nakamura Theater in the ninth month of 1767. Bando Hikosaburo II (1741-1768) was a leading actor of the period, and the Shomei Mugen no Kane was one of the many kabuki dramas built around the popular dojoji and bell legends. The convention of yatsushi or disguise - in which a heroic character takes on the guise of a humble worker - was a beloved kabuki dramatic device, giving actors opportunities to display virtuosity by alternating between elegant and earthy registers within a single role. Here Hikosaburo plays a samurai in the disguise of a ferryman. The hosoban benizuri-e format with its pink, green, and black palette was the standard for actor prints in 1767, even as nishiki-e was becoming available for non-theatrical subjects. Shigemasa's command of the Torii-school actor-print idiom was sufficient that he produced these compositions in volume during the late 1760s.