The Actor Nakamura Takesaburo I in a female role

Nakamura Takesaburo I, an Edo kabuki actor of the late 1710s and 1720s, is shown by Torii Kiyomasu II in a female role - presumably an onnagata performance, though the specific play and role are not preserved in the print's surviving inscriptions. The Nakamura family of actor-managers had founded the Nakamura-za, one of the three licensed Edo theatres, in the mid-seventeenth century, and successive generations of Nakamura performers and managers supplied the theatre with a continuous lineage of on-stage talent and back-stage administration. Multiple actor lines within the Nakamura family ran in parallel; Nakamura Takesaburo I belongs to a secondary branch, distinct from the main Nakamura Kanzaburo line of theatrical proprietors. The medium - [hosoban](/glossary/hosoban) urushi-e (lacquer print on a narrow vertical sheet) - was developed in the late 1710s and 1720s as an enhancement of the simpler tan-e hand-colouring techniques that had preceded it, with the lacquer-like surface produced by thickening the black ink with animal glue and dusting it with brass filings or other metallic powders. The result was a glossy, deep-toned surface that simulated the appearance of lacquerware and gave the prints a more luxurious finish than the simpler hand-coloured tan-e of the previous generation. The narrow hosoban format - approximately 31 by 14 cm - was the Torii school's default actor-print sheet, well suited to single full-length figural compositions. The Art Institute of Chicago dates this print to circa 1718, placing it within the heart of Kiyomasu II's mature production. Held at the Art Institute of Chicago.