The Actor Arashi Sangoro II as the Hairdresser Obana Saizaburo in the Play Koi Musume Mukashi Hachijo, Performed at the Nakamura Theater in the Third Month, 1776

A single kabuki actor stands in three-quarter profile, turning to look back over his shoulder, positioned within a doorway or sliding-panel frame rendered in pale salmon-pink and cream tones. He wears a pale cream kimono patterned with soft ochre-gold cloud or leaf motifs and a mottled brown obi, with long white hanging cords or hair ornaments trailing from his head and elaborate raised geta on his feet; a black lacquered box or chest marked with a white crest sits to his left. The palette is muted throughout — cream, salmon, tan, and black outlines against an undecorated ground — giving the composition a spare, still quality typical of a narrow hosoban sheet.