Onoe Kikugoro VII as the spider spirit in the play Tsuchigomo

Tsuchigumo dramatizes the defeat of an ancient earth-spider demon by Minamoto no Yorimitsu, the play culminating in the spider's hurling of white paper-thread webs across the stage. Kokei portrays Onoe Kikugoro VII at the moment of supernatural revelation, the priest's gentle disguise fracturing to disclose the demonic core beneath. Painted features — the gofun-whitened face, the long dark hair — sit against a flat ground that intensifies focus on the actor's transfigured expression. The print is pulled on fine ganpi paper, the keyblock cut to render the thin lines defining hair and brow with calligraphic precision. Mica may animate selected passages, a technique Kokei reserved for deluxe impressions. Within the artist's wider catalogue, this design joins his portrayals of supernatural and dance roles, where the tension between human face and inhuman spirit foregrounds kabuki's mask-like make-up traditions.