The Actor Yamanaka Heikuro I

Yamanaka Heikuro I, an Edo kabuki actor specializing in vigorous male roles, appears in this hand-colored hosoban tan-e dated around 1705. The pose is classic Torii: legs planted in a wide stance, arms extended outward in a movement frozen at the apex of its arc, and the entire figure conveyed through swelling, brush-like contour lines. Yamanaka Heikuro was associated with the aragoto (rough business) acting style developed by Ichikawa Danjuro I, in which actors playing heroic warriors and demons made their bodies appear larger than life through exaggerated movement and stage makeup. Kiyonobu translates that physical bravado into the graphic medium, his line working as a visual analogue to the actor's theatrical energy. The orange tan coloring applied to the costume completes the publication. From the Art Institute of Chicago.