Hamaya of the Asahimaruya, from the series "Models for Fashion: New Designs as Fresh as Young Leaves (Hinagata wakana no hatsu moyo)"

Hamaya of the Asahimaruya is a 1773 woodblock print by Isoda Koryusai from the series Models for Fashion: New Designs as Fresh as Young Leaves, Hinagata Wakana no Hatsu Moyo, the project that defined his contribution to Edo bijin-ga. The series presented individual courtesans from named Yoshiwara houses in the latest seasonal kimono, with each plate functioning simultaneously as a portrait of the woman and as a fashion plate for her costume. Hamaya, attached to the Asahimaruya, is shown in the upright standing format Koryusai favored for these designs, her body elongated to display the entire length of the robe and her sleeves and hem arranged to reveal as much of the printed textile as possible. The choice of model and house carried social weight in Edo: courtesans of high rank were public figures whose innovations in dress were watched and emulated, and the inclusion of a woman in this prestigious series helped consolidate her house's reputation. Koryusai's samurai-trained draftsmanship gives the figure both stillness and authority, and the carving and printing of the textile demanded a close collaboration with the block carver to reproduce the small-scale patterning that distinguishes one design from the next. The series ran for more than a hundred prints between roughly 1776 and 1781, and earlier examples like this one document the visual formula that would shape Yoshiwara representation for the rest of the decade. The Art Institute of Chicago preserves this impression.