Ichikawa Danjuro by Torii Kiyomitsu (1721)

The Role is thought to be that of Yojirobei in a new years play on the theme of the Soga Brothers revenge at the Morita-za theater in Edo. The straw hat is traditionally worn by a hero as a disguise. The long text is a quotation from the play as actually performed on that occasiion.

Torii Kiyomitsu (1735 - May 11, 1785) was a painter and printmaker of the Torii school of Japanese ukiyo-e art; the son of Torii Kiyonobu II or Torii Kiyomasu II, he was the third head of the school, and was originally called Kamejirō before taking the gō Kiyomitsu. Dividing his work between actor prints and bijinga (pictures of beautiful women), he primarily used the benizuri-e technique prolific at the time, which involved using one or two colors of ink on the woodblocks rather than hand-coloring; full-color prints would be introduced later in Kiyomitsu's career, in 1765.

Though scholars generally note his kabuki prints as lacking originality, they see a grace, beauty, and "dream-like quality" in his prints of young men and women which, at times, rivals that of the work of Suzuki Harunobu, who was just beginning his career at this time. Kiyomitsu continued to produce the billboards and other kabuki-related materials which were the domain of the Torii school, and in those works he was quite traditional and retrospective in his style. However, he was more or less the first Torii artist to experiment outside that field, and to truly emerge into the wider mainstream of ukiyo-e styles, adapting to the use of new techniques and popular subjects. Overall, it is said that the workshop flourished under his direction, but the core "Torii style" was not truly changed or advanced.

Two of his greatest pupils were Torii Kiyotsune, who faithfully continued the Torii traditions, and Torii Kiyonaga, who went on to be a master and innovator in his own right.

The Straw Cape - Katsukawa Shunshō

The actor Ichikawa Danjuro in Kumadori make up, in the act of drawing his sword, disguised in a peasants straw cape. This important design is probably for the role of Kagekiyo in the play Okazari Kotobuki. Soga performed in the Kiri za in 1786.

Katsukawa Shunshō (1726 - January 19, 1792) was a Japanese painter and printmaker in the ukiyo-e style, and the leading artist of the Katsukawa school. Shunshō studied under Miyagawa Shunsui, son and student of Miyagawa Chōshun, both equally famous and talented ukiyo-e artists. Shunshō is most well known for introducing a new form of yakusha-e, prints depicting Kabuki actors. However, his bijin ga (images of beautiful women) paintings, while less famous, are said by some scholars to be "the best in the second half of the [18th] century".

Shunshō first came to Edo to study haiku and painting. He became a noted printmaker of actors with his first works dating from 1760. Though originally a member of the Torii school, he soon broke away and began his own style, which would later be dubbed the Katsukawa school. Among his students were the famous ukiyo-e artists Shunchō, Shun'ei, and Hokusai.