Festivity at a teahouse, from a parody of Chushingura

The right sheet of an ōban [triptych](/glossary/triptych) in the Art Institute of Chicago, dated c. 1797–1798, this design takes a scene of festivity at a teahouse and frames it as a parody (mitate or yatsushi) of Chūshingura — the great kabuki and bunraku drama of the Forty-Seven Rōnin, whose fictionalized account of a samurai revenge-vendetta saturated late-Edo popular culture. In the parody mode, the rōnin's drama is replaced by Yoshiwara entertainment: women in fashionable kimono perform the gestures of the play's various acts, transposed into the world of teahouses, sake cups, and courtesan etiquette. The right sheet preserves Eishō's characteristic facial type and clean color work; viewed as one panel of a complete three-sheet design, it would have anchored the right-hand end of the composition.