“Ei of the Nakamoriken Brothel, who was a favorite of Yamamura Goto, as Lady Huayang (Kayō Fujin Yamamura Goto gonomi Nakamoriken Ei),” from the series Costume Parade of the Shimanouchi District in Osaka (Naniwa Shimanouchi nerimono)

Ryūsai Shigeharu 柳斎重春 Japanese

Not on view

The courtesan Ei of the Nakamoriken Brothel in the Shimanouchi pleasure quarters is shown holding a stem of peonies as she participates in a costume parade dressed as Lady Huayang, the concubine of the first Qin emperor of ancient China. Both figures appear as fictional characters in the Noh play The Kan’yō Palace (Kan’yōkyū). As related in the play, the emperor was about to be attacked by a pair of would-be assassins but pleaded with them to have one last chance to hear his favorite concubine Huayang (Japanese: Kayō) play the koto. They acceded to his request, but were lulled to sleep by the soothing koto music, enabling the emperor to kill both attackers. A companion print, known from other collections, shows the courtesan Konami participating in the parade cross-dressed as the Chinese emperor.

“Ei of the Nakamoriken Brothel, who was a favorite of Yamamura Goto, as Lady Huayang (Kayō Fujin Yamamura Goto gonomi Nakamoriken Ei),” from the series Costume Parade of the Shimanouchi District in Osaka (Naniwa Shimanouchi nerimono), Ryūsai Shigeharu 柳斎重春 (Japanese, 1803–1853), Right sheet of a diptych of woodblock prints (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper; vertical ōban, Japan

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