The actor caught mid-strike. Bandō Mitsugorō III takes the stage as Yawata Saburō, sword raised overhead in dramatic mie pose - that frozen moment of theatrical intensity that makes kabuki audiences erupt. His red and white striped hakama spreads across the floor, his black robes sharp against the geometric pattern of the stage beneath him. His expression is fierce, focused, the face of a warrior committed to the strike.

Kuniyoshi captures the composition with all diagonal energy - Mitsugorō's body angled across the frame, the sword cutting through space, even the stage boards running at a slant. This isn't naturalism, it's kabuki at its most theatrical - every element calculated for maximum visual impact. This is one half of a diptych, originally paired with Onoe Kikugorō III as Ômi Kotôta, the two actors locked in dramatic confrontation across the paired prints.

Kuniyoshi created this in 1832, during the height of his fame after the Suikoden success. He brought that same dynamic energy to kabuki actor prints - not just documenting performances, but freezing the exact instant when technique becomes art, when an actor's skill transforms into something audiences remember for years. Yawata Saburō is poised, dangerous, forever about to strike, and Mitsugorō III makes you believe every muscle is loaded with that potential violence.

Bandō Mitsugorō III (坂東 三津五郎) as Yawata Saburō (八幡三郎) 1832.

Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳, 1798-1861)