![A Flower of the Ōgiya (Ōgiya uchi Hana) [= the courtesan Hanaōgi], from the series Array of Supreme Beauties of the Present Day (Tōji zensei bijin zoroe) by Kitagawa Utamaro — Japanese Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper, c. 1794 (Kansei 6)](https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/0754f7b3-e6bf-e819-8466-68c1e4eef82f/full/843,/0/default.jpg)
A Flower of the Ogiya (Ogiya uchi Hana), the courtesan Hanaogi, from the series Array of Supreme Beauties of the Present Day (Toji zensei bijin zoroe), dated 1790 and held in the Art Institute of Chicago, depicts one of the most celebrated oiran of late-eighteenth-century Edo. Hanaogi of the Ogiya was a star of the Yoshiwara, famous not only for her beauty but also for her education and literary accomplishments, and Kitagawa Utamaro's portraits of her circulated widely as fine prints and as cultural advertising. The poetic title Ogiya uchi Hana, literally a flower of the Ogiya, plays on Hana, both her name and the word for flower, signaling the genre of Edo bijin-ga as a kind of botanical taxonomy of celebrity. Utamaro presents her with the grave composure expected of a top-ranked oiran, her elaborate hairstyle anchored by multiple combs and pins, her outer robe layered with patterned silks. Subtle modulations of color and the controlled use of pattern keep the visual focus on her face, which is rendered with the elongated chin and slender eyes characteristic of his mature style. As part of a deluxe series published by Wakasaya Yoichi, the print foregrounds both fashion and personhood, presenting Hanaogi as a recognizable individual rather than a generic beauty. Within the Art Institute of Chicago's holdings of Kitagawa Utamaro, this image stands as a key document of how ukiyo-e and the Yoshiwara economy reinforced each other at the height of the 1790s.
![A Low Class Prostitute (Gun [teppo]), from the series “Five Shades of Ink in the Northern Quarter" ("Hokkoku goshiki-zumi") by Kitagawa Utamaro](https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/ed82be98-8a83-4163-ccc4-e2f7210cce55/full/843,/0/default.jpg)
c. 1794/95
Color woodblock print; oban
c. 1793
color woodblock print
Woodblock print
Woodblock print
A Flower of the Ōgiya (Ōgiya uchi Hana) [= the courtesan Hanaōgi], from the series Array of Supreme Beauties of the Present Day (Tōji zensei bijin zoroe) was created by Kitagawa Utamaro (喜多川歌麿) in c. 1794 (Kansei 6).
A Flower of the Ōgiya (Ōgiya uchi Hana) [= the courtesan Hanaōgi], from the series Array of Supreme Beauties of the Present Day (Tōji zensei bijin zoroe) depicts birds & flowers.
