Ichikawa Jukai III as Shirai Gonpachi

Shirai Gonpachi is the young samurai of the Suzugamori execution-ground scene and related plays, a fugitive whose romance with the Yoshiwara courtesan Komurasaki ends in shared ruin. The role calls for a wakashugata or young-male specialist, with a long traveling sword, refined facial features, and a costume of striped kimono and travel cloak. Ichikawa Jukai III (1886-1971) was based primarily in Osaka and built a career in tachiyaku (male lead) roles within the Kansai tradition. Ota's print presumably shows Jukai in the Suzugamori sequence, where Gonpachi cuts down a band of attackers in the moonlit darkness at the edge of the road. The composition likely places the actor against minimal background, with the stance, sword position, and costume stripes carrying the visual weight. Within Ota's catalogue, the inclusion of a Kansai-based actor signals that his documentary scope extended beyond Tokyo to capture significant performances from the broader kabuki world. The print preserves an interpretation that would otherwise survive only in performance memory.