「千代寿」 「工」「はんゑい」

This sheet from Chiyo Kotobuki represents the artisan class (工, kō), inscribed with 'Han'ei' (prosperity or flourishing). Craftsmen and artisans occupied the third tier of the neo-Confucian four-class hierarchy, valued above merchants for producing tangible goods. Kyosai, who was himself a consummate craftsman of the brush and a maker of prints — objects that required the coordinated labor of designer, carver, and printer — may have brought a degree of self-identification to this subject. The figure likely appears with tools or finished works that signify his trade, rendered with the kind of specific material observation that distinguishes Kyosai's genre work.