Description
Katsukawa Shunshō’s image of Nakamura Nakazō I as the servant Tobahei forms part of a vigorous encounter between two figures. Blades or long weapons angle through pale and reddish robes beneath bare branches. Their opposed bodies make the scene more than an isolated portrait, preserving the named actor within a dramatic exchange whose other role remains uncertain.
Dated 1769, the print was made in ink and color on paper. Its theatrical subject depends on the ability of one person to appear as another, an act that the printed image allows the viewer to encounter outside the original performance. Shunshō’s portrait preserves that transformation in a compact form. The character’s particular name, Tobahei, gives the figure a more specific identity than a generalized servant, keeping the role’s individuality visible.
Read our guide to giclée prints or browse the Katsukawa Shunshō collection.
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