The Courtesans Chozan of the Chojiya, Hanaogi of the Ogiya, and Matsunoi of the Matsubaya

The Courtesans Chozan of the Chojiya, Hanaogi of the Ogiya, and Matsunoi of the Matsubaya by Isoda Koryusai is a triple portrait of three leading Yoshiwara stars of the early 1770s, each identified by her name and her affiliated house. The Art Institute of Chicago preserves the impression that documents this design, recording the date as 1771, the same year Koryusai launched the long series Hinagata Wakana Hatsu Moyo with which his name is most closely identified. The print operates simultaneously as a portrait gallery and as a ranking exercise, presenting the three women in coordinated procession-ready ensembles whose patterns can be compared across the sheet. Chozan of the Chojiya, Hanaogi of the Ogiya, and Matsunoi of the Matsubaya were among the most famous courtesans of their generation, and group portraits like this functioned as a kind of seasonal review for the Yoshiwara market. Koryusai's handling of the three figures is characteristically precise: posture, hair ornaments, and outer kimono are differentiated with the care of a fashion editor, and the spacing of the figures across the picture plane establishes a clear hierarchy without departing from the conventions of Edo bijin-ga. The print sits at the intersection of celebrity portraiture and pattern book, the same intersection that defined Hinagata Wakana Hatsu Moyo and that secured Koryusai's reputation as the leading designer of courtesan portraits of his generation.