Four Kabuki actors in the play Adachigahara Plain in Oshu Province

This Kabuki print depicts four actors, all of whose names and roles were inscribed on the print. The title of the play was not included, however; the actors and their roles may have been so familiar to the public that the source would have been obvious to them—just as promotional images of today's popular movies often need no identification.
This triptych may reflect the deterioration of the art form of ukiyo-e (literally, "pictures of the floating world") prints, which was beginning around this time. The poor uality papers, thin and therefore easily saturated, were painted with garish colors. The mechanical quality of the background—with its diagonal divisions and geometric motifs—is also notable.
Play: Oshu Adachigahara
Actors/roles: Kawarazaki Sansho as Nanbe; Nakamura Sanjuro as Sadato; Nakamura Jusen as the blind woman Sodehagi, who carries a shamisen (a stringed instrument); and Yamazaki Sakimatsu as Omiki, Sodehagi's daughter.
Print format: oban triptych
Publisher: unknown