Courtesan Playing Shamisen

This Edo period color woodblock print, executed as a surimono and held by the Art Institute of Chicago, depicts a courtesan with her shamisen, the three-stringed lute that was the soundtrack of the pleasure quarters. Surimono were privately commissioned deluxe prints, often produced in small editions for poetry circles or as New Year greetings, and they typically featured more sumptuous materials than commercial prints: thicker paper, metallic pigments, and embossing. The format gave designers freedom to indulge in subtle effects unsuited to mass-market sheets. The courtesan is shown in a moment of musical concentration, the curve of her body and the angle of the shamisen neck producing an elegant compositional line. Hokuju, though best known for landscapes, occasionally returned to the figure subjects that dominated earlier ukiyo-e, and this surimono shows his ability to handle the bijin-ga (beautiful woman) tradition with refinement. The textiles of her robes are rendered with attention to the patterning of woven and dyed silks, and the print exemplifies the intimate, decorative aesthetic that surimono patrons prized. Its survival in the Art Institute of Chicago collection allows modern viewers to see a side of Hokuju's practice often overshadowed by his more famous Edo views.