A Samurai Who Drew Courtesans: Eishi's Oiran Komurasaki

The Artist Was a Samurai

Most ukiyo-e artists came from the merchant and working class. The man who made this print did not. His name was Chōbunsai Eishi, and he was born a samurai.

Eishi (1756 to 1829) came from a high family that had served the shogun's government for generations. He trained in the official Kanō school of painting, the kind used to decorate castles, and he was a retainer of the shogun himself. Then, in his late twenties, he gave it up to make woodblock prints of the pleasure quarters. It is an unusual path, and you can feel his background in the work. His prints are calm, refined, and a little aristocratic.

Tall, Slow, and Elegant

Eishi is known above all for the way he drew women. His beauties are very tall and slender, with long necks and small, quiet faces. Next to the warm, full figures of his rival Utamaro, an Eishi beauty looks cool and graceful, as if she is moving slowly.

This is one of those prints. The woman is Komurasaki, and she was a real person.

Who Was Komurasaki?

Komurasaki was an oiran, the highest rank of courtesan in the Yoshiwara, the licensed pleasure district of Edo. She worked at a house called the Kadotamaya.

An oiran was more than a sex worker. She was a celebrity. The top courtesans were trained in music, poetry, and conversation, and a man could not simply pay for their time. He had to be introduced and approved first. When an oiran went to meet a client, she moved through the streets in a slow public parade, in tall robes and hairpins, with young attendants around her. People lined up to watch. Prints like this one let anyone own the image of a woman most of them would never meet.

Komurasaki was a famous name. Eishi drew her more than once, and so did other leading artists of the day.

The Print We Have

The print we carry is a reproduction of Eishi's design. It is a real woodblock print, made by hand in the traditional way, not a machine copy. It measures about 273 by 395mm. It is pre-owned and shows some age, with tears, spots, and marks, which is normal for a print like this. The product page has photos of the exact condition.

You can see more Eishi prints here. For another famous beauty of the same era, read about Okita of the Naniwaya. New to prints? Our guide on original, reprint, or reproduction explains the terms.

Sources

John Fiorillo, Viewing Japanese Prints — on Chōbunsai Eishi.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art — The Oiran Komurasaki of Kadotamaya Reading a Letter.

Art Institute of Chicago — Komurasaki of the Kadotamaya with Attendants.

British Museum — courtesans of the Kado-Tamaya.