Ichikawa Danjuro VI

An undated ōban color woodblock print in the Art Institute of Chicago jointly catalogued as a portrait of Ichikawa Danjūrō VI, this design depicts the short-lived sixth holder of the great Danjūrō name (1778–1799), who inherited the role from his father at twelve and died at twenty-one in the second month of 1799. The brevity of Danjūrō VI's career left a correspondingly limited iconography in actor prints, and Kunimasa's portrait of him is among the small number of contemporary single-figure [yakusha-e](/glossary/yakusha-e) to record the young actor's face in his final years. The Art Institute records a secondary attribution to Ichikawa Danjūrō IV, reflecting the complications that surround portraits where the inherited stage name does not correspond reliably with surviving biographical iconography. The design is rendered in Kunimasa's mature okubi-e manner: tightly cropped bust, decorative kimono pattern, concentrated facial drawing. The print belongs to the historically poignant late-1790s subset of his output, made in the brief window when both designer and sitter were active in Edo.