The Six Immortals of Poetry, Abbreviated
Chokosai Eisho
c. 1795
Medium
Color woodblock print; oban triptych
Dimensions
36 × 75.1 cm (14 3/16 × 29 5/8 in.)
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
87442
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
In this triptych print, the artist expressed appreciation for fine poems of the past by associating them with the three current leading, and possibly most beautiful, courtesans in the Yoshiwara pleasure district. Each of the three panels shows a courtesan with her male guest. In the background are six poems, one by each Immortal. These are inscribed over the style of decorative pattern found on cards used for writing poems. At the right is Narihira’s most famous love poem. A work by Ono no Komac...