Mimosuso River in Ise Province (Mimosusogawa, Ise), from the series "Fashionable Mirrors of Famous Places (Furyu meisho kagami)"

From Koryusai's series Furyu meisho kagami (Fashionable Mirrors of Famous Places), held by the Art Institute of Chicago and dated to about 1770 to 1772, this small-format koban print represents the Mimosuso River in Ise Province, the sacred stream associated with the Ise Grand Shrine. The meisho (famous places) tradition was a foundational scaffolding of Japanese literary geography, and Koryusai's series, true to the furyu (fashionable) modifier in its title, populates each celebrated place with fashionable contemporary figures. The koban format, smaller than the chuban, was often used for series that worked in larger quantities or that catered to a more modest price point, and Koryusai's meisho-kagami designs in this format are prized for their compact compositional ingenuity and their quietly distilled handling of place.