Toshusai Sharaku (active 1794-95) | Otani Tokuji as the Servant Sodesuke | Edo period, late 18th century

Only twenty-eight published prints are known to have survived from what has been dubbed the "first period" of Sharaku's nine-month long career. These prints provide an intimate and close-up up view of an actor portraying a character in a Kabuki play, and great emphasis has been placed on Sharaku’s ability to have rendered not only the depiction of fictional Kabuki characters, but also a more in-depth and emotional interpretation of the actors themselves. Here Sharaku depicted the comedian Tokuji portraying Sodesuke, servant to the Ishii brothers, in the play Hana-Ayame Bunroku Soga, a tale of honour and retribution. Sodesuke, loyal to his masters, determinedly draws his tanto from its scabbard, poised to act on the brothers’ behalf in their quest to avenge their father's murder. Tokuji’s clenched fist and tense pose reveal his fervent and energetic approach to acting. In order to ensure that his subjects were in the spotlight, Sharaku placed them against a dark monochrome and mica-sprinkled background, their own virtual and two-dimensional stage.

For further impressions in museum collections see the British Museum, accession no.1909,0618,0.34 and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard Art Museums, accession no. 1916.507