「吉原傾城」新美人合自筆鏡|Yoshiwara Courtesans: A New Mirror Comparing the Calligraphy of Beauties (Yoshiwara keisei: Shin bijin awase jihitsu kagami)

Kitao Masanobu (Santō Kyōden)

1784, first month · Polychrome woodblock printed book; ink and color on paper · Asian Art

Courtesans were alluring not only for their great beauty but also for their artistic and social accomplishments. To be received into their company took aplomb as well as discreet but lavish expenditure. This book chronicles some of the leading women of the day, pairing their portraits with reproductions of each woman's calligraphy. Hinazuru, on the right, has selected a poem by the tenth-century poet Fujiwara Sanesada for her presentation: I turn to look for the summer warbler singing but there is nothing but the moon left at dawn. Her colleague, Chozan, uses a classic anonymous poem from the ninth-century Imperial Kokinshu Anthology: The flying geese leave the spring mists behind without a glance—perhaps they are simply used to living in a village without flowers.

Artist

Kitao Masanobu (Santō Kyōden)

Date

1784, first month

Medium

Polychrome woodblock printed book; ink and color on paper

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

The Howard Mansfield Collection, Gift of Howard Mansfield, 1936