Ichikawa Danjuro XII as Sasaki Taketsuna in "Kamakura Sandaiki"

This print depicts kabuki actor Ichikawa Danjuro XII (1946–2013) in the role of Sasaki Taketsuna from "Kamakura Sandaiki" (Three Generations of Kamakura), a jidaimono history play set during the Genpei War. Taketsuna is a warrior who feigns madness to deceive his enemies, a role that requires shifts between dignified samurai bearing and manic disorder. Kokei isolates the figure against a plain ground in the manner of Tōshūsai Sharaku's late-eighteenth-century yakusha-e, focusing attention on the face and hands. The print would have been produced in a small edition on ganpi paper, with mica and gofun applied to costume and background details for textural variation. Created during Kokei's tenure as resident artist at the Kabuki-za Theater (1978–2000), the portrait belongs to the body of approximately 12 designs he produced annually, each carved and printed by his own hand following sōsaku-hanga principles.