Actor Sanogawa Ichimatsu I as Wakashū

Okumura Toshinobu (active early 18th century; place of birth unknown) was an ukiyo-e artist of the early Edo period and an apprentice of Okumura Masanobu (1686–1764), who is variously described as his son or younger brother. Masanobu, largely self-taught through study of Torii and Hishikawa school styles, was active during the transition of early ukiyo-e prints from monochrome sumizuri-e and hand-colored tan-e to the more refined beni-e and urushi-e techniques. His early work, such as the Shōgi gachō (Album of Courtesans, 1701), modeled on picture books by Torii Kiyonobu, demonstrates this experimental stage. Masanobu later absorbed influences from the Miyagawa school and Nishikawa Sukenobu, developing an elegant style of bijinga (pictures of beauties) that shaped not only his direct pupils but also later masters such as Suzuki Harunobu and Ishikawa Toyonobu. He is also credited as a pioneer of ukie (perspective pictures), which depicted kabuki theater interiors using Western-style perspective.

Toshinobu inherited Masanobu’s style and became one of the representative artists of the beni-e and urushi-e period, active from the late 1710s through the 1740s. Compared to his teacher Moronobu, Toshinobu figures are characterized by a softer, more sensual expressiveness. This woodblock print depicts the actor Sanogawa Ichimatsu I (1722–1762) as a wakashu role (adolescent male role), reflecting his popularity as a leading performer of the wakashu-gata. Although female and wakashu kabuki were officially banned by the mid-seventeenth century, such roles continued to appear on stage into the mid-eighteenth century. Similar actor portraits by Torii Kiyomasu II, a contemporary of Toshinobu, survive with nearly identical compositions, suggesting that these images were closely tied to actual stage costumes and gestures of the time.

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(References)
- Saishin Kabuki Daijiten (The New Kabuki Encyclopedia), supervised by Yoshihide Tomizawa and Hiroshi Fujita; editorial committee: Akira Kamiyama, Yuka Marumo, Ryuichi Kodama, Tokyo: Kashiwa Shobo, 2012.
- Kabuki-e ni Kabuki o Miru — Collection of the Honolulu Academy of Arts. James A. Michener Collection (Viewing Kabuki through Kabuki Prints).
Azabu Bijutsu Kōgeikan, 1990.
- Kano-ha to Fūzokuga (The Kano School and Genre Painting), Nihon Bijutsu Senshū 17. Tokyo: Kodansha, 1992.