Wakamurasaki of the Kadotamaya

An ōban print in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection, dated circa 1800, this is one of Eishō's mature okubi-e portraits of a named Yoshiwara star: Wakamurasaki of the Kadotamaya brothel. The name Wakamurasaki — borrowed from the young heroine of the Wakamurasaki chapter of the Tale of Genji — was a sobriquet typical of top-ranked courtesans, who often adopted classical literary names as professional identities. Eishō shows her bust-length against a plain ground, the head turned slightly off-axis so the long oval of the face reads to maximum effect; her kimono is closely patterned, her hair piled in the elaborate lacquered shimada of a tayū. The Met's impression is a strong example of the celebrity-portrait mode in which Eishō achieved his greatest critical reputation.