Portrait of Arashi Sangorō II as Yamanaka Saemon

This 1798 (third month) Osaka kamigata-e [yakusha-e](/glossary/yakusha-e) by Shōkōsai Hanbei, held by the British Museum (registration 2004,0327,0.4), depicts the actor Arashi Sangorō II in the role of Yamanaka Saemon from his retirement performance under the formal stage banner Isse ichidai (一世一代, "once in a lifetime"), staged at the Temma Tenjin Shrine precinct of Osaka. Arashi Sangorō II was one of the leading Osaka tachiyaku of the late Kansei period, and his Isse ichidai retirement bow was a major Osaka kabuki event commemorated across several print designers' output. Shōkōsai's portrait, dated to the third month of 1798, belongs to the same year as his landmark first publication Ehon futaba no aoi (the first full-color illustrated actor book in Osaka), and the design demonstrates the mature half-length kamigata-e style Shōkōsai had developed by his early thirties of career activity: tight cropping of the actor in costume, restrained color palette, the publisher's mark of Shioya Chōbei alongside Shōkōsai's signature, and a kyōka inscription tying the print to the specific Isse ichidai production. The British Museum acquired the print in 2004 alongside its companion (registration 2004,0327,0.3), and together the two prints give the museum a paired record of Osaka kabuki across the late-Kansei and early-Bunka transition. The Temma Tenjin Shrine precinct hosted both kabuki performances and a network of associated fan-club patronage, and Shōkōsai's coverage of the Sangorō II retirement is among the principal documentary records of this Osaka theatrical moment.