Ichikawa Monnosuke as Miuraya Shiratama

Shiratama, whose name means white jewel, was a high-ranking courtesan (oiran) of the Miuraya house, a role that calls for the elaborate visual vocabulary of the licensed quarters: lacquered kanzashi hairpins, layered furisode kimono, and the erect bearing that distinguished oiran portraiture in both Edo [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e) and its modern descendants. Ichikawa Monnosuke, here cast in this onnagata role, is rendered by Kokei in the [yakusha-e](/glossary/yakusha-e) tradition that the artist revived, where the actor's face is treated with graphic sharpness — every line of kumadori or delicate makeup rendered through precise block carving. The composition likely uses a soft ground or gradated neutral [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) field behind the figure, a technique Kokei favored to isolate his subjects without the busy settings common in Edo-period prints. The discipline of translating the onnagata's cultivated femininity into flat woodblock planes, without shading or perspective, is central to Kokei's achievement in this genre.