Actor portrait

A second actor portrait in Inagaki's reduced graphic mode, this print likely depicts a different role or character type from its companion image. Pairings of this kind in the yakusha-e tradition often present contrasting kabuki personae — a male tachiyaku set beside an onnagata female-role specialist, or a heroic aragoto figure paired with a refined wagoto type. Inagaki's compositional method strips away the elaborate hairpieces, kumadori patterns, and textile details that crowded Edo-period actor prints, leaving a frontal or three-quarter mask that reads as both individual likeness and theatrical type. Flat color blocks register the painted face, while the keyblock provides the schematic outlines of feature and expression. The washi would have been dampened before printing and the impression pulled by hand, with the artist supervising every stage according to sosaku-hanga principles. Read alongside the first portrait, the pair documents Inagaki's brief excursion into traditional Japanese subject matter outside his predominant feline imagery.