An ōkubi-e is a portrait

Portrait

thumb|250px|right|Portrait of [[Thomas Jefferson]] by [[Rembrandt Peale]], 1805. [[New-York Historical Society]].A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness,...

 print or painting

Painting

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

 showing only the head or the head and upper torso. Katsukawa Shunkō I

Katsukawa Shunko I

was a designer of ukiyo-e style Japanese woodblock prints in Edo . He was a student of Katsukawa Shunshō, and is generally credited with designing the first large head actor portraits . Like his teacher, Shunkō used a jar-shaped seal and was known as Kotsubo...

 (1743-1812) is generally credited with producing the first ōkubi-e. He, along with Katsukawa Shunshō

Katsukawa Shunsho

was a Japanese painter and printmaker in the ukiyo-e style, and the leading artist of the Katsukawa school. Shunshō studied under Miyagawa Shunsui, son and student of Miyagawa Chōshun, both equally famous and talented ukiyo-e artists. Shunshō is most well known for introducing a new form of...

, only designed ōkubi-e of kabuki

Kabuki

is classical Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for the stylization of its drama and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers.The individual kanji characters, from left to right, mean sing , dance , and skill...

 actors. In the early 1780s, Kitagawa Utamaro designed the first ōkubi-e of beautiful women. The shogunate authorities banned ōkubi-e in 1800, but the ban only lasted for about eight years.