Shogunate authorities banned ōkubi-e in 1800, restricting the prominent large-head portrait format in Japanese ukiyo-e.
An ōkubi-e showed only an actor’s head or head and upper torso, allowing artists to emphasize recognizable faces, theatrical expressions, costumes, and role-specific identities. The format had become an important part of kabuki actor imagery, especially after Katsukawa Shunkō I and his teacher Katsukawa Shunshō helped establish it.
The ban did not permanently end the genre. According to the standard account, authorities lifted it eight years later, in 1808. Its temporary prohibition belongs to the wider history of shogunate regulation and censorship of popular images, particularly works connected with celebrity culture and the theater world.
The date is sometimes confused with 1794, the year associated with Tōshūsai Sharaku’s celebrated actor portraits. Sharaku’s work is closely linked with ōkubi-e, but his appearance in the chronology does not mark the ban. The relevant year for the shogunate prohibition is 1800.