Ichimura Uzaemon XV as the gardener Tokubei

Yakusha-e of Ichimura Uzaemon XV (1874–1945) in the sewamono role of Tokubei the gardener. Uzaemon was a tachiyaku of the Ichimura-za acting line, active on the Tokyo kabuki stage from the late Meiji period into early Shōwa. Yamamura's portrait isolates the actor's face in the okubi-e format and renders the makeup, the wig tied in the chasen-mage of a working-class character, and the implements of gardening if shown at lower frame. Sewamono (domestic) plays draw less heavily on the kumadori bold-line makeup of jidaimono history pieces, and the print accordingly reads as a quieter portrait, closer to the contemporary nihonga conventions of facial study than to bombastic stage record. It was produced through the shin-hanga collaboration of publisher, artist, horishi and surishi, printed in nishiki-e polychrome on hōsho washi. The sheet sits within Yamamura's continuing yakusha-e treatment of the Tokyo acting establishment of his generation, a project sustained over two decades.