'Jigoku Daiyu, the Hell Courtesan, meditating'

Jigoku Dayū—the "Hell Courtesan"—was a celebrated Muromachi-era prostitute from Sakai who became a pupil of the Rinzai Zen master Ikkyū Sōjun. According to legend, she achieved enlightenment after Ikkyū presented her with a skeleton wearing the robes of a courtesan, causing her to recognize the impermanence beneath the surface of desire. Yoshitoshi depicts her in meditative absorption, dressed in robes decorated with hell imagery that she wore as a deliberate confrontation with mortality and impermanence.