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Ōtani Oniji III as Edohei, a yakko or man-servant of a type often used by samurai masters—at least on the stage—to perform deeds of violence.
The outer kimono is a dark orange-brown with yellow stripes and a yellow-green lining. The under kimono is strong pink. The tonsure is in blue.
There is no longer any dispute as to the identification of the rôle, but the troublesome questions of different states remain. There are two impressions in America, the one we exhibit and one in the Spaulding Collection which has a hand-written inscription giving the name of the actor but no date. Both of these have the contour of the figure printed in gray, but in the one we did not select the tinting on the chin and cheek was omitted. The Vignier-Inada Catalogue, number 261 and 261 bis, lists both states, but in reproducing only the one without tinting it calls attention to the outline in that impression being in black, whereas the one that had the tinting but was not reproduced is described as of the first state with the contour lines of the figure in gray.
Rumpf number 18 rephotographs from the Vignier-Inada Catalogue as do Noguchi and the Ukiyo-ye Taika Shūsei. Kurth shows a different impression which may or may not be the same as the one in Nakata; but none of these, including the one reproduced in color by Morrison, is of the supposed first state shown here, and described but not chosen for reproduction in the Vignier-Inada Catalogue.
Ōban. Dark mica ground. Signed: Tōshūsai Sharaku.
The Art Institute of Chicago (Buckingham Collection).
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