The Actor Sawamura Sojuro III as Ogishi Kurando

This work shows Sawamura Sojuro playing the chief retainer Ogishi Kurando, who helps the protagonist carry out a revenge, in Hana Ayame Bunroku Soga, staged at the Miyako-za theater in the fifth month of 1794 (Kansei 6).

In the picture, a figure with wide-open eyes holds a fan with a swirling pattern. The background is printed in black mica, and the okubi-e format, which shows only the upper body large, was published only in Sharaku's first period. His reddish-brown kimono is shown to the shoulders under his topknot.

Sharaku's first-period okubi-e are said to be a set of 28 designs published in the fifth month of 1794 with Tsutaya Juzaburo as publisher. This print, from a series with a weighty atmosphere, is a large-format color woodblock designated an Important Cultural Property.