The courtesan Hinazuru of the Chojiya

Ichirakutei Eisui's portrait of the courtesan Hinazuru of the Chojiya is an oban color woodblock print in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, dated by the museum to the broad period of the artist's activity between 1790 and 1823. The composition isolates the figure of the courtesan against an unobstructed ground, allowing the viewer to attend to the subtle inflections of the contour, the careful patterning of the kimono, and the inscribed cartouche that names the sitter and her house. Hinazuru, whose name translates as 'baby crane,' was a high-ranking oiran of the Chojiya, one of the great brothels of the Yoshiwara, and her appearance in this single-sheet portrait reflects the role of the licensed quarter as the principal subject of late-eighteenth-century bijin-ga. Eisui's handling here is characteristic of the Chobunsai Eishi school in its elongated proportions, narrow oval face, and quietly weighted line. The print belongs to the artist's most productive period as a portraitist of named Yoshiwara women, and its survival in the Art Institute's collection provides an instructive point of comparison with his closely related sheets of the courtesans Hanahito, Hanaogi, Senzan, and Takigawa.