Nanamachi of the Yotsumeya with Attendants Sumano and Akashi

Art Historical Context

Created around 1787 by Chôbunsai Eishi, *Nanamachi of the Yotsumeya with Attendants Sumano and Akashi* captures a refined moment from Japan’s Edo period. This color woodblock print, known as an *oban*, measures roughly 15 by 10 inches and exemplifies the elegant *bijin-ga* tradition of portraying beautiful women, often associated with the pleasure quarters of Yoshiwara. Eishi, a master of the ukiyo-e school, brought a graceful, almost painterly sensibility to the medium, emphasizing flowing lines and delicate color harmonies. Woodblock printing was a groundbreaking technique in 18th-century Japan, allowing artists to produce multiple impressions that made art accessible beyond the elite. The oban format offered an ideal scale for intimate yet striking compositions, inviting viewers to appreciate both the subject’s poise and the printmaker’s craftsmanship. Today, this work in the Art Institute of Chicago’s Arts of Asia collection offers a vivid window into Edo-era aesthetics and social life.

About the Artist

Chôbunsai Eishi · 1756–1829

Chôbunsai Eishi, born Hosoda Tokitomi in 1756 to a prosperous samurai family of the Fujiwara clan in Edo, inherited a substantial stipend of 500 koku of rice annually. His grandfather had served as the shogunate's Treasury Minister, and upon his father Hosoda Tokiyuki's death in 1772, Eishi became family head while holding a position in Shogun Tokugawa Ieharu's palace from 1781. Unusually for a uk...