Background
The plot of the play Yoku minoru tami no nigiwai (能実民の賑) is unknown to us. The term read here as yoku (lit., talent or skill: 能) is also pronounced Nô, that is, the traditional drama and dance of Japan patronized mainly by the samurai class during the Tokugawa period.
Design
This design by Sadahiro II is a fine example of late Tokugawa-period printmaking, with metallics and a transitional use of purple aniline dye before too many Osaka prints became more intensely (some say "garishly") colorful. The flamboyant costumes set against a dark gray night, with the actors posing beneath the foliage of autumn-hued maple leaves, make this a notable exception to the over-the-top-color examples of late-period printmaking.
References: WAS-6, no. 559