Kikukawa Eizan
Japanese, 1787-1867

The Courtesan Tagasode of the House of Tamaya, ca. 1815, from the series: Seven Worthies of the Bamboo Grove
Published by Omiya Yohei (Shoyeido)
Nishiki-e (color woodblock print)
Oban format

Museum Collection

Ukiyo-e prints sometimes advertised famous cultured high-ranking courtesans and the establishments where they could be found. Their favors would be expensive and not immediately available. Exchanged "love" letters might be part of the ritualized illusion. Here, the courtesan seems to be in a reverie about her lover, shown in the inset. He is depicted in a rather Chinese style of drawing, walking in a bamboo grove. She has been playing a koto and clutches a hygenic towel. Has the distance between love and rank been bridged-or are they in two unbridgeable worlds? The "Chinese" connection makes the print "classier." Eizan has some of Utamaro's sinuous elegance, unlike the more tortuous and intense styles of Kuniyoshi and Yoshitoshi.



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