The actors Arashi Kichisaburo III as Aboshi Samojiro, Onoe Kikugoro II as Hamaji, Nakamura Kan'emon as Nurude Gobaiji, and Otani Tomoemon IV as Shokan Hikiroku

This 1847 print by Utagawa Kuniyoshi assembles four leading kabuki actors, Arashi Kichisaburo III as Aboshi Samojiro, Onoe Kikugoro II as Hamaji, Nakamura Kan'emon as Nurude Gobaiji, and Otani Tomoemon IV as Shokan Hikiroku, in a multi-figure yakusha-e design rooted in the world of Hakkenden, the long Edo-period novel of the Eight Dog Warriors. The Hakkenden cycle, with its tangled vendettas and supernatural twists, gave Kuniyoshi some of the richest narrative material of his career, and his many prints based on it sit at the intersection of warrior prints and theatrical portraiture. As an Edo ukiyo-e artist of the Utagawa school, Kuniyoshi composes the scene with each actor occupying a distinct stance and costume signal, but bound together by overlapping contours and a unified background that suggests stage scenery. The figure of Hamaji, a tragic young woman, anchors the design emotionally, while the male roles, each marked by characteristic kumadori makeup and bold costume patterns, supply the kinetic energy that Kuniyoshi handles so well in musha-e. Published in 1847, the print belongs to the post-Tenpo period when actor prints were tentatively returning to full visibility and publishers were experimenting with multi-actor compositions that intensified the visual impact of theater scenes. The Art Institute of Chicago holds this impression (artworks/131653), where it complements the museum's broader Hakkenden holdings and underscores Kuniyoshi's central role in shaping how Edo audiences pictured both their stars and their literary heroes.