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Kunichika portrays Onoe Kikugorō V in the role of the demon of Mount Atago(disguised as Sayuri) in the play Modoribashi (The Bridge of Return) staged at the Ichimura-za.

For a profile of the actor Onoe Kikugorō V please see the article The Kabuki Actor.

signed: 五世 梅幸 Fifth generation Baikō (Kikugorō's poetry name) & seal reading Baikō

The Play "Modoribashi"
Source: The Kabuki Theatre of Japan, A. C. Scott, Collier Books, 1966, p. 213.

Modori Bashi,first staged in 1890, is really the prologue to the play Ibaraga [Ibaraki].  It describes howWatanabe no Tsuna, ordered to search for a fiend which is terrorizing thecapital, meets a beautiful woman travelling alone at night.  He offers to see her on her way, and reachingthe Modori bridge, he looks down into the moonlit water, only to see areflection of a horrible fiend instead of the fair face of his companion.  Later he confronts her with his discovery andshe assume her true shape.  A fiercefight ensues in which Watanabe cuts off the fiend’s arm, thus leading up to theevents which take place in the play Ibaraga. 

Source: Kabuki Encyclopedia, An English-Language Adaption of Kabuki Jiten, Samuel L. Leiter, Greenwood Press, 1979,p. 242.
Modori Bashi, written by Kawatake Mokuami.

A play based on the Noh play of the same name; it deals withthe legend of Watanabe no Tsuna, who cut off the arm of a female demon.  Ibarakiis the dance play in which the demon is shown returning to reclaim her arm.

At Modori Bridge in Ichijō, Watanabe no Tsuna is asked byOyuri, the daughter of a fan-paper folder, to accompany her to Gojō.  Seeing her reflection in the water, be beginsto doubt her.  When he presses her withquestions, she instantly reveals herself as a demon.  Tsuna battles with the demon and manages tocut off its arm.

This dance drama, in which a woman changes into a demon andperforms a spectacular battle, is full of highlights.  It is included in the shinko engeki juushu collection of Onoe family specialties.  Onoe Kikugorō V played the demon, andIchikawa Sadanji I played Tsuna in the premiere production.  In contrast to other such Meiji dance plays,like Iburaki, it is performed not inNoh style, but in pure Kabuki style, including a strong quality of the “livinghistory” (katsureki) technique.

Onoe Kikugorō's "Collection of Ten New Old-style Plays" (Shin koengeki jisshu)

Source: The Kabuki Theatre of Japan, A. C. Scott, Collier Books, 1966, p. 213.
As a rival collection to the eighteen new plays of Danjūrō IX, a selection known as the shnko engeki jusshu [shin koengeki jisshu], or ten neo-classical dance plays, was devised by the actor Onoe Kikugorō V. They were as follows: Tsuchigumo, Ayatsuri Sambaso, Ibaragi, Modori Bashi, Hagoromo, Hitotsuya, Fura Dera no Nako, Rakan, Kosakabe and Kikujido. Of these the first five are still very popular today.