The kabuki actor Ichimura Kakitsu IV (四代目市村家橘) as Takechi Jūjirō (武智十治郎).

The subject of this print is Takechi Jūjirō, a fictional character from the Taikōki, an historical novel based on the biography of Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
Hideyoshi (preceded by Oda Nobunaga and followed by Tokugawa Ieyasu) has been a pivotal figure for the Japanese unification process which followed the warring states period (sengoku jidai, 1467 ~ 1615).
In the novel Jūjirō is the son of Takechi Mitsuhide, whose character is shaped on the image of Akechi Mitsuhide, Nobunaga`s retainers and responsible of his own master`s death during an ambush set at the Honnō ji temple when this was set afire.
After Nobunaga`s death he tried to establish himself as Shōgun, but was quickly pursued and defeated by Hideyoshi few days later.