The actor Nakamura Utaemon IV as Taira Shinno Masakado

The actor Nakamura Utaemon IV as Taira Shinno Masakado, dated 1842, is a [yakusha-e](/glossary/yakusha-e) woodblock print by Utagawa Toyokuni in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. The sheet depicts the celebrated kabuki actor Nakamura Utaemon IV in the role of Taira no Masakado, the tenth-century warrior whose rebellion against the imperial court was reinterpreted on the Edo stage as a saga of haunted destiny and supernatural power. Toyokuni, founder of the Utagawa school's commercial supremacy in Edo [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e), was for decades the most sought-after designer of actor portraits in the city's print market, and this image continues the tradition under the Toyokuni name as it passed through the lineage. The print is a direct product of the kabuki publicity machine that fed Edo printshops with new designs for every major theatrical run, and the year 1842 falls within the disruptive Tempo Reforms, which restricted lavish actor prints with the actor's name and forced designers to encode identity through facial features, crests, and costume references. The bold patterning, severe pose, and emphasis on character rather than naturalistic likeness register the resulting aesthetic shift. The Art Institute of Chicago holds the work as part of its substantial Utagawa-school collection, where it can be studied in relation to other Masakado-themed prints by Kuniyoshi and Kunisada from the same period. The museum's documentation provides the sheet's date and attribution without speculation about the publisher or precise theatrical run.