Bando Mitsugoro III as Minamoto no Yorimasa (right), Segawa Kikunojo V as Ayame no Mae (center), and Ichikawa Danjuro VII as I no Hayata (left)

This 1817 [triptych](/glossary/triptych) by Utagawa Toyokuni presents three of Edo's most celebrated actors in a single composition drawn from a kabuki adaptation of the legend of Minamoto no Yorimasa and the monstrous nue. Bando Mitsugoro III, on the right, takes the role of the warrior Yorimasa; Segawa Kikunojo V, in the center, plays the court lady Ayame no Mae; and Ichikawa Danjuro VII, on the left, appears as I no Hayata, Yorimasa's loyal retainer who finished off the nue after Yorimasa's bow had brought it down. The story is one of the most famous heroic episodes of late Heian and early medieval Japanese lore, and kabuki seized upon it with characteristic enthusiasm.