- Title:
- Courtesan Hanaōgi of the Ōgiya House
- Artist:
- Kitawaga Utamaro
- Date:
- Late Edo Period(19th C.)
- Size:
- Notes:
- Number:
- E-140
This painting portrays the top courtesan, Hanaōgi, of the Ōgiya brothel, which was located in Yoshiwara in Edo. There is a gorgeous cherry tree in bloom inside a round pot with a dragon pattern painted on it. This cherry is in a style called tako-zukuri, where the trunk and branches are bent artificially. On the top half of the painting, there is a poem from the Hyakunin Isshu (One Hundred People, One Poem Each) Series, which can be translated to read: “a life in Vain. My looks, talents faded, like these cherry blossoms, paling in the endless rains, that I gaze out upon, alone.” The poem expresses the feelings of women.