Comments - Great portrait of Kawarazaki Gonjuro I as the hairdresser Saizo in a tale about the beauty Okoma of the Shirokiya lumber house and the clerk Chushichi. Okoma's mother has arranged a marriage for her to a wealthy man to take over the business, but Okoma is secretly in love with the man's head clerk, Chushichi. She proposes that the pair run away and commit lovers' suicide, but Chushichi needs time to think, so when the traveling hairdresser Saizo arrives, he agrees to have his hair done. The crooked barber comes up with a scheme to kidnap Okoma and ransom her, so that Chushichi can win favor by rescuing her. Here, Saizo stands beside the door carrying his wooden chest of combs and supplies, glaring angrily over his shoulder as he holds out a blue cloth in his hand. Behind him, a blue and white ceramic teapot sits over the red coals in a hibachi, and a striped robe is draped over a hanging bamboo pole above. A nicely detailed design.

Artist - Toyokuni III/Kunisada (1786 - 1864)

Image Size - 14 1/2" x 9 5/8" + margins as shown

Condition - This print with excellent detail as shown. Vertical folds. Small hole, repaired. Creasing throughout, slight toning and soiling, faint spotting. Please see photos for details.