Nakamura Utaemon as Hanako

Hanako is the protagonist of 'Musume Dôjôji,' the long-form solo dance drama in which a young woman—in fact the spirit of the spurned Kiyohime—performs at the consecration of a new bell at Dôjô-ji temple before revealing her serpent nature in the climactic transformation. The role is a touchstone of the onnagata repertoire, and successive Nakamura Utaemon have made it a defining performance of their careers; the title indicates Shunsen's version captures one such interpretation, likely Utaemon V. The portrait foregrounds the elaborate kimono and tate-eboshi headdress particular to the dance, with the actor's painted face composed in the controlled neutrality the role's first phase demands. Shunsen's nishiki-e treatment, executed by the Watanabe atelier on dampened washi, requires many separate blocks to register the layered patterning of the costume. Within his oeuvre, Hanako portraits stand among his technically demanding exercises and recognizable representations of onnagata art.