Actor Sanjō Kantarō II as Yaoya Oshichi

Held by the Minneapolis Institute of Art, this 1718 urushi-e woodblock print depicts the celebrated onnagata Sanjo Kantaro II in the role of Yaoya Oshichi, the legendary greengrocer's daughter whose tragic love story was a perennial subject of Edo kabuki, bunraku, and [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e). The historical Oshichi was executed in 1683 for arson after setting a fire in the hope of being reunited with her lover, and her story was rapidly absorbed into the popular dramatic repertoire, with Ihara Saikaku publishing his version in 1686. Sanjo Kantaro II was one of the great female-role specialists of the early eighteenth century, and Toshinobu's portrait places him within the iconography that defined the Oshichi character: a young townswoman in a richly patterned kimono, captured in a moment of stillness that carries the weight of the impending tragedy. The medium combines woodblock printing in ink with hand-applied color and nikawa (animal-glue binder), the same glossy black mixture that produced the lacquered sheen of urushi-e. The Minneapolis impression preserves the early Okumura school's elegance of line, slender figural proportions, and disciplined use of empty ground that characterize Toshinobu's mature actor portraits within the early Edo ukiyo-e tradition. The Oshichi role remained central to Edo kabuki for the entire eighteenth century, and Toshinobu's contribution to its visual iconography fed directly into later versions by artists across the Okumura, Torii, and Katsukawa schools. The print therefore documents both a specific 1718 production and a moment in the longer iconographic life of one of Edo theater's most beloved tragic heroines.