18 great plays by the Ichikawa Danjurô line of actors

This composition references the Kabuki Jûhachiban — eighteen signature plays codified by Ichikawa Danjurô VII in 1832 as the hereditary repertoire of the Naritaya line. The canon includes Shibaraku, Kanjinchô, Sukeroku, Ya no Ne, Narukami, Kagekiyo, and other plays associated with aragoto, the rough style developed by Danjurô I in late seventeenth-century Edo. Ota's print presumably gathers iconic figures or moments from across the canon into a single sheet, functioning as a frontispiece or summary plate rather than documenting a specific performance. The aragoto convention calls for bold graphic design — kumadori facial lines in red and black on white, oversized props, exaggerated stance — which mokuhanga renders through clear outline and flat color planes. Within Ota's catalogue, this print stands apart from his single-actor portraits, engaging instead with the institutional history of the Ichikawa line and its formative role in shaping Edo and Showa kabuki. The work registers the eighteen plays as a continuing performance tradition rather than a fixed historical text.