
The man depicted here is Kintoki, a hero from Japanese folklore famous for engaging supernatural beings in battle. His birth name was Kintarō, and he had legendary strength even while still a boy. Here he is shown wrestling with a tengu, a type of mythical birdman said to live on Mount Kurama, north of Kyoto. The hand coloring is primarily red (tan), derived from red lead, and green (roku), made from malachite, a scheme that was popular before multicolored printing was introduced. Despite the limited palette, the pigment was skillfully applied in a variety of saturations so that the thicker red could represent the tengu’s supernatural skin while the thinner red conveys Kintoki’s flushed face.

Komurasaki of the Miuraya and Shirai Gompachi (Miuraya Komurasaki, Shirai Gompachi)
Kitagawa Utamaro 喜多川 歌麿 Japanese, c.1753-1806

Hamamatsu, from the series "Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido (Tokaido gojusan tsugi)," also known as the Tokaido with Poem (Kyoka iri Tokaido)
Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川 広重 Japanese, 1797-1858

Mitsuke: Ferries Crossing the Tenryu River (Mitsuke, Tenryugawa funawatashi), from the series "Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido (Tokaido gojusan tsugi)," also known as the Tokaido with Poem (Kyoka iri Tokaido)
Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川 広重 Japanese, 1797-1858