This preparatory drawing depicts a Kesobumi-uri (懸想文売), or love letter vendor, wearing court clothes and a face covering, pleasuring a young woman with his fingers, in front of a large plum blossom branch on which are tied letters.

These vendors were seen in the city of Kyoto around New Year's, carrying large plum branches bearing love letters, which they sold as lucky charms, with the poems believed to predict your future love life. This practice developed around a thousand years ago, when Impoverished court nobles would earn money by using their writing skills to compose letters for ordinary people. As this was shameful for nobles to take on such work, they often hid their identities by covering the lower part of their faces with a cloth while writing elegant poems or romantic letters.

The drawing is annotated with instructions indicating the colours intended for the final painting, produced either for a painting album or hand scroll, offering insight into the artist’s design process and planned palette.