Art Archive • Sharaku
Ukiyo-e
Ōkubi-e
Bandō Hikosaburō III as Sagisaka Sanai in the Play Koinyōbō Somewake Tazuna
About this work
Sagisaka Sanai from The Colored Reins of a Loving Wife — frontal tachiyaku intimidation delivered straight to the viewer.
Bandō Hikosaburō III plays Sagisaka Sanai in The Colored Reins of a Loving Wife. Full-frontal staging makes the viewer the object of the actor’s glare.
Viewing notes
Contrast this head-on power with Ebizō’s cooler leading-man stare.
Frontal ōkubi-e is structurally rare — note how Sharaku avoids flatness.
Examine brow ink density; it carries most of the menace here.
Extended Japanese viewing notes: 三代目坂東彦三郎の鷺坂左内.