The Actor Osagawa Tsuneyo II, Possibly as Misao Gozen, in the Play Chiyo no Hajime Ondo no Seto (Beginnings of Eternity: The Ondo Straits in the Seto Inland Sea) (?), Performed at the Kiri Theater from the Twenty-seventh Day of the Seventh Month, 1785

Editor: Here we have Katsukawa Shunko's woodblock print from 1785, titled "The Actor Osagawa Tsuneyo II, Possibly as Misao Gozen." The muted colors give it a calm, almost melancholic feel, even though it's portraying an actor in a theatrical role. What social commentary, if any, can we gather from such an artwork? Curator: That melancholic feel is precisely where the work finds its strength, placing the *on'nagata*, male actors who perform female roles, in conversation with broader themes of identity. Here we see not just a portrait but a complex negotiation of gender and performance. These prints gained popularity during a time when the Tokugawa shogunate was enforcing strict sumptuary laws aimed at regulating social behavior and appearance. Editor: So the prints become a form of…resistance? Curator: Exactly! By depicting actors, who were already liminal figures within society, artists like Shunko offered a subversive commentary on those very restrictions. Consider the role of Misao Gozen. Often portrayed as virtuous and self-sacrificing. To see a male actor in that role, captured in a print, is to question the rigidity of societal expectations about gender. This is also happening during a rise in mercantile economy and, subsequently, an elevation of Kabuki alongside. Does the placement within a theater impact how you read the figure? Editor: I see! It makes the print not just an image but a form of social commentary on performance. What a powerful message! Curator: Precisely, thinking about performative representation, and how it questions fixed societal positions lets us rethink what "the traditional" truly means!