# Sakata Sajūrō I as a Samurai’s Manservant

- By: Ippitsusai Buncho (Japanese, active c. 1755-90)
- Date: c.1770
- Medium: Color woodblock print; hosoban
- Classification: Print
- Dimensions: 31.2 × 13.9 cm (12 5/16 × 5 1/2 in.)
- Culture: Japan
- Credit line: Clarence Buckingham Collection
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/89257)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/d1b522e5-73c4-b5f6-db34-efd629ae1091/full/!1373,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Teens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

The black sky in this image is a perfect backdrop for the weather. Here the driving rain pours down on a manservant who has just sliced in half the lantern hanging from the pine tree above him. As with many prints depicting Kabuki actors, we cannot identify the character or the play he comes from.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0