Actor Segawa Kikunojō III as Yama'uba, Ichikawa Monnosuke II as Kaidōmaru, and Ichikawa Danjūrō V as Ninnaji Saibei; with chanters Tokiwazu Kanetayū etc.; from the kabuki play Shitennō Ōeyama-iri (Edo Kiri-za theatre)

Torii Kiyonaga (1752–1815; born in Edo) was the fourth head of the Torii school and studied under the third head Torii Kiyomitsu. From around 1767, he began producing actor prints in the traditional Torii style, particularly hosoban benizuri-e (narrow-format). He later developed the degatari-zu, dynamic compositions that depict not only actors but also kabuki musicians such as tayū (narrators) and shamisen players, thereby introducing a new sense of theatrical immediacy into actor prints. Kiyonaga also turned to bijinga (pictures of beauties). His series Tōsei Yūri Bijin Awase (Beauties of the Quarters, 1782–84) depicted the twelve months of the pleasure districts through elegantly proportioned women, whose nearly eight-heads-tall figures defined his style. This vision of female beauty was subsequently inherited by artists such as Kitagawa Utamaro and exerted a major influence on the history of ukiyo-e bijinga. After the death of his teacher Kiyomitsu around 1787, Kiyonaga assumed leadership of the Torii school and devoted himself to its traditional responsibilities of the Torii school, including the production of signboards for theater façades s and illustrated playbills. Although the Katsukawa school under Katsukawa Shunshō had popularized more naturalistic likenesses in actor portraits, Kiyonaga’s actor prints and bijinga achieved great success in their own right. He is remembered both as a central figure in the Torii lineage and, together with Utamaro, as one of the defining masters of ukiyo-e bijinga.

This work is one of Kiyonaga’s degatari-zu. Whereas earlier actor prints focused primarily on the actors themselves, Kiyonaga’s degatari-zu, with their careful depiction of stage settings and background elements, played an important role in the history of ukiyo-e composition while also conveying the splendor and atmosphere of so-called Tenmei-period kabuki. These compositions were later developed into large-scale, dynamic diptychs and triptychs, and many examples include the names of the tayū and shamisen players.

This print depicts a performance of Shitennō Ōeyama-iri, staged in 1785 at the Kiri-za Theatre in Edo. The role of Yama'uba is played by Segawa Kikunojo III (right), a leading onnagata and one of the most accomplished actors of his time; the role of Ninnaji Saibei is performed by Ichikawa Danjūrō V (center); and Kaidōmaru is portrayed by Ichikawa Monnosuke II (left). Behind them are depicted performers of Tokiwazu music, including the tayū Tokiwazu Kanetayū.