The courtesan Yachiyo of Matsubaya, from an untitled series of courtesans on parade

Dated c. 1814 by the Art Institute of Chicago, this oban depicts Yachiyo, an oiran of the Matsubaya — one of the great houses of the Yoshiwara — in a dochu (procession) pose. Matsubaya was among the most prestigious of the Yoshiwara houses, and named portraits of its highest-ranking courtesans were a recurring genre across late-Edo bijin-ga. Eizan presents Yachiyo in the elaborate frontal pose of the dochu: enormous obi tied at the front, lavish patterned robes, towering kanzashi hairpins, and a slight tilt of the head that signals the oiran's poise as she pauses mid-procession. The Art Institute identifies the print as part of an untitled series of courtesans on parade, suggesting that several Matsubaya and other top-house women would have been depicted in the same format. As a record of named Yoshiwara figures the print is also a useful document of early-nineteenth-century courtesan fashion at its most elaborate.