The Actor Ichikawa Danjūrō V as a Samurai

Description

In Ichikawa Danjūrō V as a Samurai, Katsukawa Shunshō gives the upright actor angular red and ochre shoulders above a long striped, patterned robe. A blade crosses the waist, placing a sharp horizontal line against the costume’s vertical fall. The plain background keeps this arrangement of person, clothing and weapon prominent without requiring an elaborate scene around it.

Dated 1771–1772, the print was made in ink and color on paper. Its subject belongs to the theater, where a familiar individual can be accepted as someone else through performance. Shunshō’s image retains the human connection between actor and role without naming a dramatic episode that the surviving title does not establish. The portrait’s interest lies in that controlled transformation, preserving a samurai persona and the performer who gives it presence.

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