Mitate: Arashi Rikan II as Hachiman Taro and Nakamura Utaemon III as Abe no Sadato (見立 「八幡太郎」二代目嵐璃寛、「安部貞任」三代目中村歌右衛門),

1832

In this work, Shunkōsai Hokuei, the woodblock artist known for his portraits of Kabuki actors, imagines two well-known actors who were often in the same play but never played these roles with each other. Hokuei has used the work’s title, lyrically written across the top, the patterned costumes, exaggerated facial expressions, theatrical makeup (white, red, and black), and stylized gestures to depict an imaginary encounter between two samurai of the Heian period—Hachiman Taro (1039–1106) and Abe no Sadato (1019–1062)—who were the eldest sons and famous warriors of clans that competed for power. While Taro and Sadato never actually fought one another, Hokuei shows the actors portraying them staring fiercely at each other, their exaggerated wild-eyed expressions and grimaces brought into stronger focus by the monochromatic background of the print.

Eve Aschheim, artist
John Yau, poet and critic