37 Utagawa Sadahide 1807 – 1879 The Pheasant Spirit

An early actor portrait depicting the celebrated kabuki star Bandō Mitsugorō III (1783–1831) as Tō no Shigenobu, a reincarnation of the pheasant spirit (Yamadori no sei).
The scene belongs to a shōsagoto dance drama, where the actor embodies a mythological being with avian attributes — a favorite subject of early 19th-century kabuki stage.

With its dynamic diagonal composition, refined movement, and softly faded color palette, the print bears all the hallmarks of Sadahide’s early style, still deeply influenced by his teacher Utagawa Kunisada and the Toyokuni tradition. It stands as a document of the transitional phase in actor portraiture, bridging late-Edo elegance and emerging modern sensibilities.

In the 1860s, Sadahide would become a pioneering creator of Yokohama-e — prints portraying Western merchants, ships, and the rapidly changing world that entered Japan after the opening of its ports.