Actors Jitsukawa Enzaburo I and Hosokawa Kizunosho and Arashi Kichisaburo III as Minbunosuke Shoetsu, at Hosokawa Mansion, from the play Nazoraete Yuki no Kukusui

Osaka was the second most important center of woodblock print publishing in Japan, after Edo (modern Tokyo), and likewise supported a thriving Kabuki theater. Osaka designers developed their own distinctive tradition of actor prints and Yoshitaki, the son of a paste merchant, became one of the most accomplished and prolific artists of kamigata in the late nineteenth century.