Actor Arashi Hinasuke I as the Wrestler Tatsugadake

This 1792 yakusha-e by Ryūkōsai Jokei depicts the actor Arashi Hinasuke I (also known as Kano Hinasuke I) in the role of the wrestler Tatsugadake. Held by the Art Institute of Chicago (accession 1968.405), the print is contemporary with his peak period of color single-sheet production (1791-1793), during which he established the technical and stylistic premises of the entire Osaka kamigata-e school. Sumo wrestler roles (sumotori) were a recurring kabuki specialty, often featured in domestic dramas where a wrestler's physical strength carried both heroic and comic possibilities. The composition shows the actor in the half-length hosoban format he favored, with the wrestler's exaggerated build conveyed through restrained line and the costume's mawashi (sumo loincloth) and patterned over-robe defining the role unambiguously. The angular, somewhat severe drawing distinguishes his Osaka work from the smoother Edo yakusha-e of contemporaries like Katsukawa Shunshō and from the more stylized Sharaku portraits being produced in Edo at almost the same moment. The print is held by the Art Institute of Chicago (accession 1968.405) in the standard hosoban Osaka kamigata-e format and dates from 1792, in the middle of his brief but foundational peak period for single-sheet print production. Arashi Hinasuke I was one of the most prominent Osaka actors of the late eighteenth century and a recurring subject in his yakusha-e corpus, and the Tatsugadake role exemplifies the wrestler character type that Osaka kabuki favored for its combination of physical spectacle and dramatic heft. The Art Institute of Chicago's holding of two Ryūkōsai prints (1968.404 and 1968.405), both portraits of Arashi Hinasuke I, forms one of the principal small American clusters of his work and complements the Metropolitan Museum of Art's three Ryūkōsai holdings.