Artist: Utagawa Toyokuni I [初代豊国] (Japanese, 1769–1825)

Publisher: Iseya Sōemon [伊勢屋惣右衛門] (c. 1776 – November 1862); Marks 02-041 | 156a

Date-Aratame Seal: Bunsei 1 (文政元年, 1818)

Media: Print (Yakusha-e, 役者絵); 223 x 250 mm

Actor: Bandō Mitsugorō III [三代目 坂東 三津五郎] (Japanese, 1775–1831); also known as Bandō Minosuke I, Morita Kanjirō II, Bandō Mitahachi I, Bandō Minosuke I, Bandō Mitahachi I.

Role: Anno Heiemon [安の平右衛門], also known as Anno Heibei [安の平兵衛].

Play: Shiire Zome Karigane Gomon [仕入染雁金五紋] (しいれぞめかりがねごもん), staged in May 1818 at Nakamuraza Theatre in Edo (modern-day Tokyo).

Bust-length, three-quarter-view portrait of actor Bandō Mitsugorō III as Anno Heibei, one of the gonin otoko [五人男]—a group of five chivalrous thieves. The actor is dressed in a red and purple robe, with a golden mon (family crest) on the shoulders, displaying the character 安 (An), which, in this case, represents the first ideogram in the name of his role. A shakuhachi (尺八), a traditional Japanese end-blown bamboo flute, is secured on his back.