Nanamachi of the Yotsumeya with Attendants Sumano and Akashi

Nanamachi of the Yotsumeya with Attendants Sumano and Akashi, held by the Art Institute of Chicago, names a specific oiran of the Yotsumeya house in the Yoshiwara along with her two kamuro attendants. The kamuro names Suma no (Suma) and Akashi are themselves drawn from chapters of The Tale of Genji, a typical Yoshiwara convention in which attendants of a top-ranking courtesan were given literary or seasonal names, partly to reinforce the cultivated reputation of the house. Chobunsai Eishi's print belongs to the group of his Yoshiwara portraits in which a named courtesan is depicted with her retinue: the principal figure dominates the design, with the smaller kamuro placed to either side or behind, providing both compositional balance and a visible marker of her professional rank. Eishi's slender attenuated proportions and quiet upward tilt of the head are fully evident in the principal figure, while the children are rendered in his characteristically gentle, restrained style. The Art Institute of Chicago dates the sheet to the late eighteenth century. The print also serves as a small piece of Yoshiwara social history: the Yotsumeya was one of the major brothels of the quarter, and Eishi's portrait of Nanamachi participates in the broader practice by which top-ranking oiran became near-celebrity figures, their names and faces circulated through prints, fashion plates, and the kind of cultivated Edo [bijin-ga](/glossary/bijin-ga) at which Eishi, as a Kano-trained [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e) artist, particularly excelled.