Megumi-Ichiban

A black firefighter's coat (hikeshi banten) fills the composition against a plain cream ground, its sleeves spread flat to show the full back panel. A red circle enclosing the character "番" (with "一" above it, reading "ichiban") sits at the center of the collar, while a clenched fist wrapped in a tasseled, fur-cuffed gauntlet and a bound straw or rope tassel occupy the lower body of the coat, flanked by two white ladder-like lattice patterns. The print is signed and titled in pencil below ("Megumi-Ichiban," numbered 5/119) with the artist's red seal at lower right, dated 2003; Kunio Kaneko, woodblock print.