[Mitate] Actors in the evening, returning to the dressing room

Kunichika visited kabuki dressing rooms and was friendly with the actors on an everyday basis. It may be specifically due to the fact that he had been observing actors in the dressing rooms every day that Kunichika published the five-part Mitate: Actors in the Evening, Returning to the Dressing Room (『見立楽屋戻誹優夕栄』, ’Mitate gakuya modori haiyū yūbae’) in 1865, one work of which is in the Latvian National Museum of Art collection (ĀMM Gr-9357). A famous young actor Kawarazaki Gonjūrō I (the later Ichikawa Danjūrō IX) is portrayed, paired with an actor Nakamura Ganpachi playing a supporting role in the performance who is depicted as if he were an okuri (‘accompanist’) – a theatre worker whose duties are to await and accompany actors. Thus the creation of a series of portrayals with famous actors and supporting actors together required a flair for noticing inter-human relationships and the balance between the actors portrayed.