The pirate who owned the night. Kezori Kuemon - "Shaved Head Kuemon" - was an outlaw of the seas, a criminal so bold he became legend. In Yoshitoshi's stunning composition, Danjūrō IX emerges from darkness beneath a massive full moon, his fierce expression and wild hair radiating raw menace. That enormous fur collar frames his face like a lion's mane, his thick beard adding to the sense of untamed power. His robe explodes with supernatural energy - writhing octopus tentacles, coiling waves, creatures from the deep rendered in vivid greens and purples against black. 

This is the "Moon" panel from Yoshitoshi's Snow, Moon and Flowers series, and the artist uses that lunar light like a spotlight, isolating the pirate against pure void. Danjūrō IX carries the family legacy into the Meiji era - ninth generation of Japan's greatest acting dynasty, performing in an age when the old kabuki traditions were colliding with modernization. But in this moment, none of that matters. This is primal theater - a man dressed as myth, commanding the stage with nothing but presence and that massive, unblinking moon bearing witness.

The actor Ichikawa Danjuro IX (九代目市川團十郎) in the role of the pirate Kezori Kuemon (毛剃九右衛門), from the series Setsu gekka no uchi (雪月花の内, Snow, Moon and Flowers) 1890.

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (月岡芳年, 1839-1892)