Actor Iwai Kumesaburō I (Iwai Hanshirō V) as Oshichi, a young girl, and Actor Bandō Hikosaburō as Kichisaburō, from the Kabuki play Yaoya Oshichi Koi Edo Murasaki

Utagawa Toyokuni (1769–1825; born in Edo) studied under Utagawa Toyoharu, the founder of the Utagawa school, and became renowned for his actor prints, laying the foundation for the school’s later prosperity. His disciples included Utagawa Kunisada I and Utagawa Kuniyoshi, both of whom would carry the Utagawa style into subsequent generations.
From 1794, Toyokuni gained wide recognition with his series Yakusha Butai no Sugata-e (Portraits of Actors on Stage), which depicted kabuki performers with a luminous, transparent quality. The series became immensely popular, eclipsing contemporaries such as Sharaku and Katsukawa Shun’ei. Toyokuni was also a distinguished painter of beauties, portraying women with a healthy, approachable humanity distinct from the refined elegance of Kitagawa Utamaro. In his later years, he moved away from his earlier style, developing sharper, angular facial features and a distinctive rendering of hunched backs and thick necks, which became characteristic of the Utagawa style. This shift, often associated with the influence of his disciple Kunisada, aligned with the increasing demand for mass-produced prints and the tastes of the growing urban audience, helping secure the continued dominance of the Utagawa school.

The present work employs the same stylistic approach as Yakusha Butai no Sugata-e and depicts the popular Edo subject of Yaoya Oshichi. On the left is Iwai Kumesaburō I (later Iwai Hanshirō V) as Oshichi, and on the right is Bandō Hikosaburō as the page Yoshisaburō. Hanshirō V was celebrated as an onnagata of the highest rank, described in contemporary actor critiques as murui (“peerless”), a distinction above even the top category of jōjōkichi. Renowned for his mastery of both shosa (dance) and jigei (acting), he excelled not only in maiden roles but also in portraying wakashu, courtesans, martial figures, and even aragoto roles, with nothing considered beyond his range.