Osagawa Tsuneyo II as the hairdresser O-Roku

Designed in 1794 and held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this Toshusai Sharaku okubi-e presents the onnagata Osagawa Tsuneyo II in the role of the hairdresser O-Roku, a chonin woman of the working ranks rather than a courtesan or noble lady. The sheet belongs to the body of [yakusha-e](/glossary/yakusha-e) Sharaku produced for the publisher Tsutaya Juzaburo and is one of the more socially specific portraits in his short Edo [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e) career.

O-Roku is a working woman, and the role allowed Sharaku to depart from the elaborate signs of courtesan beauty. Tsuneyo II's face is drawn with painted brows and a small reddened mouth in the onnagata convention, but the head is tilted forward and the eyes look down and slightly to the side, as if attending to the hair of a customer just off-print. The artist preserves the slightly heavy jawline and the male-actor anatomy under the female makeup, an unsoftened reading that gives the portrait its quiet authority.