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](/glossary/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](/glossary/washi) would have been dampened before printing and the impression pulled by hand, with the artist supervising every stage according to [sosaku-hanga](/glossary/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.