The Actor Ichikawa Monnosuke II, Possibly as Matsuya Soshichi, 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 c. 1785

Katsukawa Shunko crafted this woodblock print in 1785, depicting the actor Ichikawa Monnosuke II. The actor’s pose and expression are central, conveying a sense of contemplation or concern. Shunko's composition plays with form, employing line and color to define the figure against a subtly patterned backdrop. Notice the contrast between the intricate design on the actor’s robe and the minimalist rendering of the screen behind him. This juxtaposition invites us to consider the play between surface and depth, reality and representation, so the actor appears against a backdrop, both part of it and set apart. The semiotic structure here invites decoding. The actor's attire, the stage setting, and even his gesture, function as signs within a visual language, hinting at narratives of identity and performance. This is not merely a portrait, but a study in signs, in how we construct meaning through visual cues, and in how these can destabilize fixed categories of representation.