Actor Bandō Mitsugorō II as Ishii Genzō

Related to the play Hana ayame Bunroku Soga 花菖蒲文禄曾我, performed at the Miyako Theater in the fifth lunar month of 1794. The crest on the figure’s left shoulder reveals that the actor is Bandō Mitsugorō II. His costume shows him in the role of Ishii Genzō in a play performed in 1794 at the Miyako Theater in Edo. The play is the story of two brothers attempting to avenge their father’s death. Here, Genzō’s disheveled hair suggests that he has been fighting. Now, clearly, the struggle has escalated, for he is unsheathing his sword. In the play’s next scene, he is killed by his enemy. Portraying Genzō as both intense and pensive, Toyokuni conveyed the character’s powerful determination and foreshadowed his tragic end.