Ichikawa Danjūrō V as Kūdo no Suketsune, and Nakamura Rikō as Oiso no Tora

Description

Ichikawa Danjūrō V appears as Kūdō no Suketsune alongside Nakamura Rikō as Ōiso no Tora in this print by Katsukawa Shunshō. An elegantly dressed female-role figure sits low in the foreground while a broad-shouldered samurai stands behind and to the right. Architectural rails locate the pair, allowing the contrast in their positions to give the theatrical encounter a clear and intimate structure.

The eighteenth-century nishiki-e print uses ink and color on paper. Shunshō preserves the individual performers while placing their represented characters within a shared composition. The work’s interest lies in that meeting of separate identities, where each presence gains meaning through the other. It offers both theatrical recognition and the suggestion of a wider dramatic situation, allowing the viewer to attend to a particular pairing without reducing it to a general image of companionship.

Read our guide to giclée prints or browse the Katsukawa Shunshō collection.