Title of the performance: AKECHI Mitsuhide (Meiji 5 / 1872) Honnō-ji Incident: On June 2, 1582, AKECHI Mitsuhide assassinated his lord, Oda Nobunaga—who was working to unify Japan—at Honnō-ji Temple in Kyoto. He briefly became the ruler of Japan, but thirteen days later, he was defeated by Hashiba (Toyotomi) Hideyoshi and died. Kabuki Actor: BANDO Hikosaburo Title of the performance: AKECHI Mitsuhide Kabuki Actor: BANDO Hikosaburo

Toyohara Kunichika (1835–1900)
(1848) Became an apprentice to Toyokuni III.
Around 1855 (Ansei 2), he began signing his works as Toyohara Kunichika—a name combining those of his first teacher, Toyohara Shushin, and Toyokuni. He demonstrated his mastery by creating numerous large-format actor portraits, carved by Ota Shokichi. Known as "Kunichika of the Actor Portraits," he was later dubbed "the Sharaku of the Meiji era" by Kojima Usui.

This large-format portrait of Nakamura Sojuro by Toyohara Kunichika is one of his signature actor portrait series from the Meiji era.

*Ookubi-e* refers to a style of *ukiyo-e* print—primarily produced during the Edo period—that depicts a person's face or bust in close-up.

UKIYO E (Japanese print)

**The horizontal line visible in the image is the result of combining two scanned images; there is no actual line on the print itself.