Sankatsu and Hanshichi, from the series "Fashionable Patterns in Utamaro Style (Ryuko moyo Utamaro-gata)"

Two half-length figures fill the composition: a woman with an elaborate black coiffure pierced by ornamental combs and pins, dressed in a mauve-pink kimono with a red-and-plaid under-layer, positioned above and behind a man in a brown robe who leans forward with his head bowed and eyes downcast. Vertical text cartouches at right give the series and print title along with the artist's signature, and columns of characters at upper right name the two figures. The palette is muted — soft pink, brown, and black against a warm grey ground — with the composition tightly cropped at the shoulders. Color woodblock print (oban), by Kitagawa Utamaro, 1793, from the series "Fashionable Patterns in Utamaro Style (Ryuko moyo Utamaro-gata)," depicting Sankatsu and Hanshichi.