Utagawa Kunisada. Kusazuribiki, from the series Pictures Matching to Taste (Fūryū ekyōdai) / Fan print, [1838].

Colour woodblock print for a rigid fan (uchiwa-e), 212 × 281 mm. One of a series of six prints; each design pairs a contemporary genre scene with a historical episode depicted in an inset cartouche.

Foreground. Two female figures on a veranda; floor in red and yellow check pattern; hibachi (火鉢) lower right. Standing figure (right): male actor Iwai Shijaku I (Iwai Hanshirō VII) in onnagata (女形) role; brown overgarment with flowers, folding fans with iris motifs and Iwai family crest; blue kimono; black obi with coloured roundels; collars in key-fret pattern (紗綾形, sayagata, blue) and hemp-leaf pattern (麻の葉, asanoha, red); shimada coiffure with red tegara (手絡), tama kanzashi (玉簪) with blue ornamental ball, maekami (眉隠し); hairpin with butterfly decoration. Seated figure (left): blue kimono with mortar-and-pestle and stylised pine motifs between red streams; brown-and-green checked obi; left hand extended towards standing figure, right hand opening companion's kimono; simpler coiffure.

Background. Veranda overlooking the sea; candle on tall stand; military processional banners and pines (left); Mount Fuji (centre).

Cartouches (upper left). Red cartouche: warrior scene illustrating the kusazuribiki episode from the tale of the Soga brothers — figure grasping the kusazuri (草摺), the pendant lamé plates of the armour, of an opponent; print title 草ずり引 inscribed within. Adjacent pink cartouche: series title 風流絵兄弟.

Inscriptions (right). Artist's signature: 香朝樓國貞画; publisher's mark 十 (Kojimaya Jūbei); censor seal kiwame (極). No date seal. Binding holes along the right margin.

SVJP-0552 草ずり引 Kusazuribiki	SVJP-0553 Fushimi Tokiwa ふしみ常盤	SVJP-0554 Ame kōi Komachi 雨乞ひ小町)	SVJP-0555 Minamoto Yoriyoshi 源より義	SVJP-0556 Tadanori 忠のり	ka14824 Murasakishikibu at Ishiyamadera 紫式部石山寺