Yamashina Shirojuro in the Role of Nagoya Sanzaemon

Held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and dated to 1794, this Toshusai Sharaku [yakusha-e](/glossary/yakusha-e) shows the actor Yamashina Shirojuro in the role of Nagoya Sanzaemon, a stage character associated with the long-running otokodate (chivalrous commoner) versus samurai-bully dramas that defined much of late-Edo kabuki. The print is part of the okubi-e series Sharaku produced under Tsutaya Juzaburo and stands among the central documents of his Edo [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e) career.

Sharaku draws Shirojuro with the dense, descriptive frankness that distinguishes his bust portraits from the prettier actor prints of his contemporaries. The face is broad, the jaw set, the brows low, and the mouth held in a deliberate, slightly opened line. The eyes are narrowed and asymmetrical in direction, suggesting that the character is sizing up a rival who stands just outside the print. The lines along the nose and around the mouth are not smoothed; the artist registers the working actor's face rather than the idealized hero his role might otherwise have demanded.