
1775–1797
This work depicts the Kabuki actor Ichikawa Danjūrō II (1689–1758) performing in a revenge play as Soga Gorō, the younger of two brothers. Here, he sharpens an arrow as he plots the death of the man who caused his father to commit ritual suicide (seppuku). Decades after the painting was completed, one of the actor’s descendants, Ichikawa Danjūrō VII, added an inscription of appreciation.