The Actor Iwai Hanshiro IV in Female Role, Standing Beside a Litter

Description

Iwai Hanshirō IV appears in a female role beside a litter, bringing the actor’s assumed identity into contact with an object associated with travel. The female-role figure stands beside a pale green litter at the left, wearing an ornate pale floral kimono and elaborate hairstyle. The green ground anchors the scene, allowing the character’s carefully presented appearance to be encountered within a specific setting of travel and conveyance.

The nishiki-e print was made with ink and color on paper during Katsukawa Shunshō’s Edo-period career. The actor remains distinct from the woman he embodies, keeping the theatrical transformation central to the subject. Its appeal lies in the meeting of role and setting, where a practical object helps locate a character within a larger imagined world. Shunshō preserves that particular encounter, allowing the staged figure to be considered through both human presence and the circumstances surrounding it.

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