Shin Nigao: Ichikawa Chûsha VII in the role of Takechi Mitsuhide in the play Ehon Taikôki

The "Shin Nigao" (New Portraits) series, published by Watanabe Shozaburo between 1925 and 1929, is one of Shunsen's principal contributions to shin-hanga and comprises portraits of named actors in named roles. Ichikawa Chusha VII (1860-1936) was a leading actor of the period, and Takechi Mitsuhide is the kabuki rendering of the historical figure Akechi Mitsuhide, the general who turned against Oda Nobunaga at Honnoji in 1582. "Ehon Taikoki" is the play dramatizing these events on the kabuki stage. The role demands a brooding intensity registered in furrowed brow, set jaw, and the helmet and armor of the warlord, qualities Shunsen captures within the close bust format characteristic of the series. Production involved carvers cutting separate blocks for face, hair, helmet, armor, and any background tone, with printers applying bokashi gradations on washi paper to model the planes of the face. The series sits within the okubi-e tradition reaching back to Sharaku and Toyokuni, distinguished by its commitment to recording specific performances by specific actors in specific plays rather than offering a generic theatrical type.