Portrait within a round mirror depicting actor Ichikawa Ichizō III as Sankichi, a popular hero with bared arm and shoulder displaying a dragon tattoo. Colour woodcut by Kunisada I, 1859.

Popular heroes protected commoners against oppressive officials who lived beyond the law

Mirror set on ground of speckled writing paper: this format was used by Kunisada in the early 1830s and again in the late 1850s

Half-length figures

Edo [Tokyo] : 1859.

1 print : woodcut, printed in colours

Toyokuni-ga Bears publisher's mark, block cutter's mark, censor's seal, actor's role, set title and actor's poem Poem across the top is in the actor's own hand: the pink rectangle at the top left carries the actor's name, which was added by an early Japanese collector

Present day pressed cloth mirrors

Wellcome Collection 35764i