This preparatory drawing depicts a teahouse waitress and a male customer in an intimate encounter on the front bench of a wayside teahouse, during the celebration of the Hatsu-uma festival.

Hatsu-uma, observed on the first “day of the horse” in the second lunar month, originated as a ritual dedicated to Inari, the deity of rice and grain, whose fox messengers symbolised prosperity. Traditionally associated with prayers for abundant harvests, the festival was also widely embraced during the Edo period by merchants seeking success in business.

The teahouse is adorned with festive decorations that reflect the occasion. Dyed banners bearing calligraphy hang from a pole in the upper right corner, while a bamboo branch propped behind the couple is decorated with tanzaku poem slips and two small ornaments depicting foxes dressed in human clothing, one standing in a kimono and the other sitting in a man’s wedding kamishimo.

These fox figures, known as Kuchiire Ningyō (Matchmaking dolls), relate to a tradition associated with Araki shrine, part of the Fushimi Inari Shrine complex in Kyoto. Araki shrine is dedicated to the deity Kuchiire Inari Okami (Great Kami Matchmaking Inari), a deity venerated for the forming of human relations. This reflects the social realities of the time, as during the Edo period, both employment and marriage arrangements relied on professional intermediaries or matchmakers.

Traditionally, the set of fox dolls includes a seated couple in marriage attire and a standing fox acting as an attendant or matchmaker. Here, however, the female fox doll is conspicuously absent from the scene.

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.