Hinazuru of the Chojiya, Whose Attendants Are Tsuruji and Tsuruno (Chôjiya uchi Hinazuru, Tsuruji, Tsuruno), from the series
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Source:
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Image courtesy of
- Art Institute of Chicago
Description
Depicting the courtesan Hinazuru flanked by her two kamuro attendants, Tsuruji and Tsuruno, this print records the formal hierarchy of the Chôjiya establishment. The inclusion of kamuro — young girls training within the Yoshiwara system — situates the composition within a recognizable social structure and provides scale contrast that emphasizes Hinazuru's status and bearing. Utamaro differentiates the three figures through kimono pattern, hairstyle, and posture: the attendants' simpler dress and girlish coiffures offset the high courtesan's layered robes and formal obi. The Chôjiya was among the leading establishments of the Yoshiwara's central Nakanochô street, lending this portrait a prestige within the series that would have been legible to contemporary viewers.
More Prints by Kitagawa Utamaro
![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)
A Low Class Prostitute (Gun [teppo]), from the series “Five Shades of Ink in the Northern Quarter" ("Hokkoku goshiki-zumi")
c. 1794/95
Color woodblock print; oban

Woman Holding a Fan (from the series Ten Aspects of the Physiognomy of Women)
c. 1793
color woodblock print

Akashi of the Tamaya, from the series Seven Komachis of Yoshiwara (Seiro nana Komachi) (Tamaya uchi Akashi, Uraji, Shimano)
Woodblock print

Hour of the Tiger (Tora no koku = 4 AM) from the series Twelve Hours in Yoshiwara (Seirô jûni toki tsuzuki), Late Edo period, circa 1794
Woodblock print
Frequently Asked Questions
Hinazuru of the Chojiya, Whose Attendants Are Tsuruji and Tsuruno (Chôjiya uchi Hinazuru, Tsuruji, Tsuruno), from the series was created by Kitagawa Utamaro (喜多川歌麿).