Background
Eighteenth and nineteenth-century Kamigata prints (Kyoto-Osaka region) are overwhelmingly yakusha-e (pictures of actors: 役者絵). Thus this portrait of a young beauty and a boy is particularly uncommon.
Design
A young beauty carrying a janôme gasa (snake's eye umbrella: 蛇の目傘) accompanies a boy with a kite. A canopy of cherry blossoms hangs above them. The inscription includes several references to worshipping at a Buddhist shrine or temple (e.g., hatsu uma mode: going to a shrine at the first horse) as well as visiting paradise (higan maeri) in February (kisasrazu).
Presumably, as the first line of the inscription refers to shiki (four seasons) and kurabe (comparison), this may be one image intended for a set of the four seasons (shunkashûtô: 春夏秋冬), although no other prints are known from such a set.
This is an unrecorded design and an exceptional example of a non-theatrical Osaka print. The print retains margins at the top and left side. A distinct rarity in a remarkable state of preservation!
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