Art Archive • Sharaku
Ukiyo-e
Sharaku Gallery (Guide)
Mica-ground actor faces that stare back from Edo’s theater district.
Toshūsai Sharaku’s ōkubi-e actor portraits (1794) — seventeen works from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, public domain.
Sharaku’s actor portraits compress late-Edo theater culture into a single face—a singular lineage within ukiyo-e. In a career of roughly ten months he left many masterpieces, bold in deformations of expression and gesture that set him apart from his contemporaries. Sharaku’s identity long remained a mystery; today the Noh actor Saitō Jūrōbei, retainer of Awa-Tokushima domain, is the leading candidate.
This gallery is built around the twenty-eight mica-print ōkubi-e published in the fifth month of Kansei 6 (1794), drawn from The Met’s holdings and released in sequence. Mica printing (kira-zuri) dusts powdered mica into the background for a distinctive sheen, lifting the actor’s face from an unmodulated ground. This group is widely regarded as the peak of Sharaku’s brief career—the moment his style cuts most sharply.
High-Resolution Download | Curated Best 5
From the works you can view free in our gallery, we selected five that resonated most strongly. Every line and layer of pigment that is hard to see on screen—delivered as high-resolution JPEGs. One ZIP download puts all five in your hands at once. Print them, set one as wallpaper, or keep them for study—the choice is yours.
The artworks themselves remain free to browse in the gallery as ApLink Design watermarked previews, so take your time with the brushwork first. When you find one you want close at hand, welcome it home with this set.
Tōshūsai Sharaku
Sharaku Best Set — Five Actor Portraits
5-work set
Ōkubi-e
雲母摺大首絵
Mica-dusted backgrounds lift exaggerated brows and eyes — actor portraits compressed into a single face at the peak of Sharaku’s brief career.
- Kabuki Actor Ōtani Oniji III as Yakko Edobei
- Kabuki Actor Ichikawa Ebizō (Ichikawa Danjūrō V) in the play The Colored Reins of a Loving Wife
- Arashi Ryūzō I as Ishibe Kinkichi in the Play Hana Ayame Bunroku Soga
- Ichikawa Omezō I in the Role of Yakko Ippei from the Play Koinyōbō somewake tazuna
- Sakata Hangorō III as Fujikawa Mizuemon in the Play Hana Ayame Bunroku Soga
- Bandō Mitsugorō II as Ishii Genzō in the Play Hana-ayame Bunroku Soga
- Iwai Hanshirō IV as Shigenoi in the Play Koinyōbō Somewake Tazuna
- Kabuki Actor Ichikawa Komazō III as Shiga Daishichi in the Play A Medley of Tales of Revenge
- Kabuki Actor Morita Kan’ya VIII as the Palanquin-Bearer in the Play A Medley of Tales of Revenge
- Onoe Matsusuke I as Matsushita Mikinojō in the Play Katakiuchi noriyaibanashi
- Nakayama Tomisaburō as Miyagino in the Play Katakiuchi Noriyaibanashi
- Matsumoto Yonesaburo as Kewaizaka no Shosho in the Play Katakiuchi Noriyaibanashi
- Nakajima Wadaemon and Nakamura Konozō as Bōdara no Chōzaemon and Kanagawaya no Gon
- Segawa Tomisaburō II and Nakamura Manyo as Yadorigi and Her Maid Wakakusa
- Segawa Tomisaburō II as Yadorigi in the Play Hana Ayame Bunroku Soga
- Bandō Hikosaburō III as Sagisaka Sanai in the Play Koinyōbō Somewake Tazuna
- Sawamura Yodogorō II and Bandō Zenji as Kawatsura Hōgen and Onisadobō
Selected Sharaku actor portraits are available as print goods (17 works): SUZURI store .