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Parading Courtesan

Painting and Inscription by Momokawa Shikō Japanese
late 18th century
Not on view
A magnificently attired woman adjusts one of the hairpins keeping in place her double-bunned hyōgo-mage hairstyle. The array of hair ornaments and the elaborate layers of her richly colored robes declare her to be an oiran, or a highly ranked courtesan of the Yoshiwara pleasure quarters. The inscription by the artist quotes the Rinzai Zen monk Takuan Sōhō (1573–1645), weaving in famous Zen sayings:

Buddha tried to sell religious law; Our founding patriarch [Bodhidharma] tried to sell the Buddha; We, monks of the Final Age of the Law, try to sell our founding patriarch. And you sell your five-foot-tall body to allay the passions of mankind.

“Form is none other than emptiness;
emptiness is none other than form”
“Willows are green, and flowers crimson”

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • 花魁図
  • Title: Parading Courtesan
  • Artist: Painting and Inscription by Momokawa Shikō (Japanese, active late 18th– early 19th century)
  • Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
  • Date: late 18th century
  • Culture: Japan
  • Medium: Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
  • Dimensions: Image: 35 1/16 × 11 5/8 in. (89 × 29.6 cm)
    Overall with knobs: 65 1/4 × 18 1/8 in. (165.7 × 46 cm)
    Overall with mounting: 65 1/4 × 16 1/8 in. (165.7 × 41 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Fishbein-Bender Collection, Gift of T. Richard Fishbein and Estelle P. Bender, in celebration of the Museum’s 150th Anniversary, 2020
  • Object Number: 2020.393.1
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art

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