# Evening Rain at Shukaku - the actor Nakamura Nakazo as Sadakuro, from an untitled series of actor prints

- By: Torii Kiyonaga (Japanese, 1752-1815)
- Date: 1780
- Medium: Color woodblock print; chuban
- Classification: Print
- Dimensions: 25 × 18.5 cm (9 7/8 × 7 5/16 in.)
- Culture: Japan
- Credit line: Clarence Buckingham Collection
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/87510)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/e52f14c1-ab73-e7f5-de5e-6a54221ba323/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

This work is a parody in several dimensions. “Shukaku” is the pen name of the actor Nakazô, who performed a role in the play. In a parody of the famous letter-reading scene in Act VII, the print title and a quotation by Nakazô are written in reverse in the background of the scene. The quotation suggests a then well-known series of eight paintings of Chinese rivers famous for their (imense) great beauty. Edo audiences greatly enjoyed unraveling the many implied references in works of this type. The scene in this print is based on Act V in the play; Hiroshige’s interpretation of Act V is shown nearby.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0