The Courtesans of the Chojiya on Display in the Daytime (Chojiya hirumise)

An ōban [triptych](/glossary/triptych) of c. 1796–1798 in the Art Institute of Chicago depicting the hirumise — the daytime display — at the Chōjiya, one of the great Yoshiwara houses. Hirumise prints record an actual ritual of the licensed quarter: between late morning and early evening, the top-ranked courtesans of a house would sit behind a wooden lattice fronting the street, sumptuously dressed and posed for viewing by passersby, who could then negotiate appointments through the house's intermediaries. Eishō's triptych spreads roughly a dozen figures across the three sheets, varying their poses — some upright on cushions, others leaning on low railings — while keeping the lattice and architecture as a strong horizontal armature. The print is a key example of his skill at large-cast Yoshiwara documentation.