Actor Sakakiyama Sangoro II as Michinaga's Daughter Princess Otae

This 1794 yakusha-e by Toshusai Sharaku, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, presents the onnagata Sakakiyama Sangoro II in the role of Princess Otae, daughter of the Heian-era statesman Fujiwara no Michinaga, in a contemporary kabuki dramatization of court intrigue. The sheet is one of the okubi-e portraits Sharaku produced for Tsutaya Juzaburo during his brief but defining tenure as a designer of Edo ukiyo-e.

In this composition, Sharaku turns his attention to the conventions of female impersonation. Sangoro II's face is drawn with painted brows lifted high on the forehead, a small reddened mouth, and the smooth white-painted complexion appropriate to a noblewoman of the Heian court. At the same time, the artist refuses to dissolve the actor's male physiology into an idealized mask: the line of the jaw remains heavier than the female stage type strictly demands, and the neck retains a width that records the working body beneath the role. This double reading, of the role and of the actor sustaining it, is the signature analytical move of Sharaku's okubi-e.

The princess's hair is dressed in a long sweep with formal ornaments suggesting court regalia, and the robes carry the elaborate motifs of high-ranking female roles. Color is held to a careful palette of soft pinks, muted reds, and patterned grounds, with the line work doing the descriptive heavy lifting. Sharaku's portraits often sit on dark mica grounds; here the conservation of the original impression at the Met allows a clear reading of how the ground supports the face.

Across his short career, Sharaku produced a number of these princess-and-courtier roles, and this image stands as a concentrated example of how Edo ukiyo-e turned the kabuki onnagata into a subject of serious portraiture. The Metropolitan Museum of Art preserves the sheet in its collection.