The Actor Bando Hikosaburo III as Kichisaburo in the play "Junshoku Edo Murasaki," performed at the Ichimura Theater in the first month, 1779

This 1779 woodblock print by Torii Kiyonaga depicts the actor Bando Hikosaburo III in the role of Kichisaburo in the play Junshoku Edo Murasaki, performed at the Ichimura Theater in the first month of 1779. The impression is preserved in the Art Institute of Chicago. The print belongs to the substantial body of yakusha-e by which Kiyonaga, as head of the Torii school, sustained the workshop's traditional commission of designing actor prints for the Edo kabuki theaters. Bando Hikosaburo III was a leading actor of the late eighteenth century, and Kiyonaga gives careful attention to his recognizable likeness as well as to the costume appropriate to the Kichisaburo role. The figure dominates the sheet in the manner typical of single-actor designs, with firm outlines and patterned robes treated with the workshop's accustomed graphic clarity. The first-month performance context, marking the New Year season at the Ichimura Theater, placed the print in the period of greatest kabuki commercial activity, when Edo audiences expected fresh actor portraits to commemorate the new repertory. The Art Institute of Chicago documents this impression among its Kiyonaga actor prints, where it stands as evidence of the artist's parallel commitment to yakusha-e alongside his transformative Edo bijin-ga. The print is a useful example of how Torii school discipline, with its strong outlines and decisive treatment of costume, could be applied to a relatively understated role without sacrificing actor identification. Such prints functioned both as souvenirs for theatergoers and as documentation of specific performances now otherwise lost.