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

Manzan of the Chojiya is a 1773 woodblock print by Isoda Koryusai from his celebrated series Models for Fashion: New Designs as Fresh as Young Leaves, Hinagata Wakana no Hatsu Moyo, the long-running fashion project at the center of his Edo bijin-ga career. The Chojiya was one of the major Yoshiwara establishments, and the inclusion of its courtesans in the series gave both the house and its individual women a sustained presence in the visual culture of the city. Manzan is depicted full-length, her tall silhouette displaying the entire kimono in a manner that allowed Edo viewers to study the season's newest patterns and color combinations. Koryusai's contribution to bijin-ga was precisely this fusion of portrait and pattern book: the courtesan's identity, named in the cartouche, anchored the print as a representation of a real person, while her costume served as a public model that fashionable townswomen and other quarter establishments could imitate or contest. The figure's pose, with the body slightly turned and the sleeves spread, is calibrated to give the carver maximum surface for the textile design. Koryusai's samurai-trained draftsmanship lends authority to the composition, and the close cooperation with carver and printer characteristic of mid-1770s nishiki-e is visible in the precision of the kimono patterning. The series ultimately ran to more than a hundred plates between roughly 1776 and 1781. The Art Institute of Chicago holds this impression.