The Courtesan Hanaōgi of the Ōgiya Brothel (Ōgiya Hanaōgi), from the series Beauties of the Pleasure Quarters as Six Floral Immortals (Seirō bijin rokkasen)

Chōbunsai Eishi 鳥文斎栄之 Japanese

Not on view

The high-ranked courtesan Hanaōgi (literally, “flowery fan”) from the Ōgiya (House of Fans) brothel in Yoshiwara is shown seated at her desk with the accoutrements of a writer, suggesting that she is a dedicated poet and calligrapher. We assume that Chōbunsai Eishi was creating an imaginary portrait of the talented Hanaōgi IV.

Each print in this series includes in its title the phrase rokkasen, which sounds like it should mean Six Poetic Immortals, but the character for “poetry” has been playfully substituted with that for “flower,” suggesting that the women of the pleasure quarters are being compared to beautiful flowers.

The Courtesan Hanaōgi of the Ōgiya Brothel (Ōgiya Hanaōgi), from the series Beauties of the Pleasure Quarters as Six Floral Immortals (Seirō bijin rokkasen), Chōbunsai Eishi 鳥文斎栄之 (Japanese, 1756–1829), Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper, Japan

Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Open Access

As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.

API

Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.