'In Front of the Toothbrush Shop'

Held by the Victoria and Albert Museum and dated circa 1800, this print depicts a scene 'In Front of the Toothbrush Shop' — most likely a Yanagiya or similar Edo establishment that sold tooth-blackening cosmetics (ohaguro) as well as toothbrushes and tooth powder. Such shops, often staffed by attractive young women, were favorite settings for bijin-ga because they combined the picturesque street life of Edo with the implied feminine grooming theme. Eishō uses the storefront setting to stage a small group of beauties — customers and attendants — in front of the shop's curtained entrance. The print sits at the late end of his active period and represents the more anecdotal, scene-based mode of his work, distinct from the celebrity okubi-e for which he is most famous.