# Actor Nakamura Nakazô I as Osada no Tarô in The Genji Clan Now at Its Zenith (Ima o sakari suehiro Genji)

**Katsukawa Shunshō** (Japanese, 1726–1792)  
About 1768  
Color woodblock print; hosoban  
30.5 × 14.4 cm (12 × 5 11/16 in.)

Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago, 1938.479. [The museum's record](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/88267).

## About this work

Katsukawa Shunshō designed this in about 1768, aged about 37. It is now at the Art Institute of Chicago.

### What you’re looking at

A work made of color woodblock print; hosoban.

_Description from the Art Institute of Chicago._

### How it was made

- **Colour woodblock print.** In Japan these were a team effort. The artist drew the design, a carver cut it into cherry-wood blocks, one block for each colour, and a printer brushed on the pigment and rubbed each sheet by hand. Full-colour prints of this kind were called nishiki-e, “brocade pictures”, from the 1760s on.

### [Katsukawa Shunshō](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/katsukawa-shunsho)

Japanese, 1726–1792

Shunshō founded the Katsukawa school and changed the way kabuki actors were portrayed, giving them recognisable individual features rather than standard types. From the late 1760s his actor designs, often in the narrow hosoban format, dominated the field. He was also a refined painter of beautiful women, and the young Hokusai spent his early years in his studio under the name Shunrō.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

## Facts

- Type: Print
- Culture: Japan
- The artist was about 37
- Real size: about 12 × 5½ in (30 × 14 cm). Closest to life size: the 8 × 10 in print.
- Century: 18th century
- Movement: [Ukiyo-e](https://www.ochreeditions.com/movements/ukiyo-e)
- Subjects: Japanese (culture or style)
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/239.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/239/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/actor-nakamura-nakazo-i-as-osada-no-taro-in-the-genji-clan-n-aic-88267).