The Actors Otani Ryuzaemon II as Kajiwara Genta and Arashi Tominosuke I as Oiso no Tora in the play "Tamagushi Yosooi Soga," performed at the Ichimura Theater in the first month, 1747

Dated 1747 and preserved in the Art Institute of Chicago, this hosoban benizuri-e documents a specific Edo kabuki production: Otani Ryuzaemon II as Kajiwara Genta and Arashi Tominosuke I as Oiso no Tora in Tamagushi Yosooi Soga, performed at the Ichimura Theater in the first month of 1747. The print is one of Shigenaga's late actor sheets and is unusually specific in its identification, naming actors, roles, play, theater, and month, providing a level of documentary detail that has made it valuable to kabuki historians as well as ukiyo-e scholars. The Soga revenge cycle and its associated Tamagushi Yosooi Soga were perennial New Year subjects in Edo theaters, and the first month staging at the Ichimura was a prestigious venue. The benizuri-e palette (two or three printed colors) places the print in the technical transition that Shigenaga himself helped lead, and the hosoban scale was standard for actor portraits of the period. The Chicago impression is a particularly clean state with the printed pinks and greens still legible, and represents one of the documentary high points of Shigenaga's late career.