Kataoka Nizaemon XIII as Ishikawa Goemon in the play Sanmon Gosan no Kiri

A close-up bust portrait of a kabuki actor with a heavy black wig and stern, deep-set eyes beneath arched brows, his mouth set in a downward frown and his face crosshatched with fine grey lines. He wears a checkered black-and-cream diamond-pattern collar under a large outer robe patterned with pale circular motifs on a stippled tan ground, and holds a long pipe in one raised hand near a round object at the lower left. A small red seal appears in the upper right corner against a mottled grey background; the print is rendered in a muted palette of black, cream, tan, and grey. This mokuhanga (Japanese woodblock print) by Tsuruya Kokei depicts Kataoka Nizaemon XIII as Ishikawa Goemon in the play Sanmon Gosan no Kiri.