The Actor Ōtani Oniji III as Edobei (Nishijin textile)

A work by Toshusai Sharaku. He is an enigmatic painter who produced some 145 yakusha-e (portraits of actors) and other works during a period of only 10 months of activity, after which he suddenly disappeared from the history books. His works themselves stand out for their individuality, strength, and uniqueness.

The large head painting depicting Ōtani Oniji III playing the role of an Edo warrior who tries to rob a large sum of money is a powerful work filled with a sense of tension, as if he is about to attack at any moment.

The background is painted using a technique called mica-hiki, in which powdered shells are mixed with glue. Nishijin-ori weavers used bronze foil for the warp and two colors of gray for the weft, beautifully expressing the textures of age.

Thirteen different colors of threads are used, and a variety of colors are expressed by the changes in adjacent and overlapping colors. The thickness of the threads is varied to give a three-dimensional effect to the white-painted face, which tends to be flat, and the lines in the hair and contours are expressed not by threads but by the way they are woven.