柳下美人図|Courtesan and her Attendants under a Willow Tree

Unchō 雲潮|Kyokutei Bakin 曲亭馬琴|Santō Kyōden 山東京伝

1796 · Hanging scroll; ink, color, and gold on silk · Asian Art

A high-ranking courtesan (oiran), accompanied by her teenage apprentice (shinzō) and two child attendants (kamuro), promenade beneath a weeping willow in the spring. While the identity of the artist who signs himself “Unchō” has yet to be determined, we may assume that he received his art name from the ukiyo-e artist Katsukawa Shunchō. The two inscribers of the poetry above, Kyōden and Bakin, are among the greatest popular writers of the day. They have both added Chinese and Japanese poetic phrases referring to the Yoshiwara pleasure quarters. Kyōden uses metaphors of willow trees and flowers; Bakin quotes a Chinese poem and then likens a courtesan to a thousand-armed Kannon bodhisattava in the service of men.

Artist

Unchō 雲潮|Kyokutei Bakin 曲亭馬琴|Santō Kyōden 山東京伝

Date

1796

Medium

Hanging scroll; ink, color, and gold on silk

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015