From book: During his life Hokushu was the most popular painter of actors in Osaka, mainly between 1810-1832. The scene depicted on the sweater is from the play Keisei Sano no Funabashi in which the actor, Ichikawa Ebijuro, is playing Miura Arajiro, a corrupt state official active under Prime Minister Tanuma.

The strong features of the character have been woked into the sweater using a combination of embroidery and intarsia knitting. The yellow and grey chessboard background has the added detail of Japanese writing on the sleeves, worked in embroidery.