Nakamura Tomijuro as Soga Goro

Soga Goro Tokimune is one of the most persistent figures in the kabuki repertoire, one of the two Soga brothers whose vendetta forms the basis of a cycle performed annually for centuries and whose characters range across roles from bold warrior to elegiac young man. Here Nakamura Tomijuro takes the role, and the print captures him in the martial bearing appropriate to Goro's character: likely in formal kamishimo or aragoto-inflected costume, with a controlled ferocity in the facial expression that distinguishes the Soga cycle's male protagonists from the reflective mood of sewamono. Kokei renders the figure with his characteristic graphic precision — outlines carved to stand cleanly against a limited ground — and the print participates in a long visual tradition of Soga-role depictions stretching from Katsukawa Shunshō and Tōshūsai Sharaku through to the twentieth century. Tomijuro's identification with this role cycle would have made the performance worth documenting as part of Kokei's comprehensive archive.