Art Archive • Sharaku
Ukiyo-e
Ōkubi-e
Kabuki Actor Ōtani Oniji III as Yakko Edobei
Pan and zoom the high-resolution image below.
Tōshūsai Sharaku. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (public domain).
About this work
From The Colored Reins of a Loving Wife — a defining ōkubi-e of rage, with brows and eyes pushed to theatrical extremes.
One of Sharaku’s most celebrated faces: Ōtani Oniji III as the servant Edobei, caught mid-snarl in Kansei 6 (1794). The mica ground lifts the glare from beneath like stage light.
Viewing notes
Zoom the kirazuri mica to see how the background catches light differently from the printed face.
Compare the hooked brows and bared teeth with other yakko roles in the same play cycle.
Note how a single expression fills the ōkubi-e format — no costume detail, only psychology.
Extended Japanese viewing notes: 三代目大谷鬼次の奴江戸兵衛.