Courtesan and her Attendants under a Willow Tree

An oiran, or high-class courtesan, and her two attendants saunter past a willow tree at Ōmon, the main gate to Yoshiwara, the pleasure district of Edo. The coiffures and hair ornaments and the intricate patterns on their kimonos are described with unusual care. While the overall scheme is one of subtle hues, the eye is attracted to the bright red obi worn by the young girl attendant and the flicker of color on the linings of undergarments. The effect is complemented by touches of thick, shiny ink on black hair, clothing, and wooden clogs.

In spite of the unusually high quality of this scroll, we know nothing about the artist, who signed the work "Unchō, early winter, Year of the Dragon, eighth year of the Kansei era [1796)." No document supporting the existence of Unchō has yet been found. Nor has any other painting with his name come to light since this scroll was first published, in 1966. The name "Unchō," composed of characters meaning "cloud" (un) and "tide" (chō), suggests that the artist may have been associated with the painter Katsukawa Shunchō (fl. late 18th century), whose name means "spring tide." Shunchō was a pupil of Katsukawa Shunshō (cat. no. 149). Another possible link between Unchō and Shunshō is the fact that both artists used as a seal a kaō, a stylized cipher, that was employed only by a small number of ukiyo-e artists and novelists.

There is, however, no apparent stylistic connection between this painting and the work of Shunshō. The short stature of these women and their plump faces and full hairstyles, in which the swell of the side locks is exaggerated, point instead to the print artist Kitao Shigemasa (1739–1820). Santō Kyōden, one of the two colophon writers, is known to have been friendly with Shigemasa, and Unchō also may have known him.

In contrast to the anonymity of the painter, the lives of the two colophon writers, both of whom were popular novelists, are well documented. Santō Kyōden (1761–1816), the elder of the two, was a printmaker before 1790, when he turned to writing full time.[1] Kyōden made prints under the pseudonym Kitao Masanobu. His works reflect the style of his teacher, Shigemasa, and there are certain similarities between the prints he produced as a young man and this painting by Unchō. Kyōden's career exemplifies the kind of collaboration that existed between writers and book illustrators in the Edo period. Because his own novels were illustrated with woodblock prints, Kyōden maintained close ties with printmakers even after he had become a writer.

Kyōden's pupil Takizawa Bakin (1767–1848) is the writer of the second colophon[2] A prolific novelist, Bakin is often regarded as the first professional writer of Japan, and like Kyōden he was closely associated with ukiyo-e artists. It is possible that Unchō designed illustrations for books by both these authors.

Each inscription consists of a short preface, a satirical poem, a signature, and a seal. Kyōden's poem reads:

Anyone can break off the branch of a willow by
the roadside or pick a flower from a fence.
Even Saigyō has not yet seen Yoshiwara
in the season of flowers.

The twelfth-century monk Saigyō (see cat. no. 79) as a youth renounced his military career to become a wandering poet. An episode in the Nō play Eguchi, written in 1424, dramatizes the exchange of poems between Saigyō, after he became a mendicant, and the courtesan Eguchi no Kimi ( the Princess of Eguchi).[3] The theme of the play is the acknowledgment of the sacred nature of all human activity—even the most profane, that of prostitution. Eguchi no Kimi later came to be regarded as an incarnation of Fugen (Skt: Samantabhadra), and Saigyō a symbol of the religious sanction of Yoshiwara and its women.

Bakin's poem reads:

The house of Yoshiwara is north of Kinryūzan;
The courtesan thinks often of Thousand-Armed
Kannon.
She lies on three layers of quilts
And touches the bodies of ten thousand men.
Yet lice never cling to the collars of her wealthy
customers;
Such is the disposition of the women of
Yoshiwara.

Kinryūzan, mentioned in Bakin's poem, is another name for Sensōji, popularly known as the Asakusa Kannon temple. Asakusa is a section of Edo near the Yoshiwara district, and the principal deity of the temple is Kannon (Skt: Avalokiteshvara). The number of quilts given to a customer at Yoshiwara depended on his wealth; three quilts would have been reserved for an affluent and frequent customer.[4]

[Miyeko Murase 2000, Bridge of Dreams]

[1] On the life of Kyōden, see Schamoni 1970.
[2] On the life of Eakin, see Zolbrod 1967.
[3] For an English translation of this play, see Japanese, Noh Drama 1955, pp. 109–24.
[4] Mitani Kazuma 1973.

Signature: Kansei hachi tatsu shoto Uncho ga; Santo Kyoden san; Kyokutei Bakin gigo

Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation , New York (until 2015; donated to MMA)

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Japanese Art: Selections from the Mary and Jackson Burke Collection," November 7, 1975–January 4, 1976.

Seattle Art Museum. "Japanese Art: Selections from the Mary and Jackson Burke Collection," March 10–May 1, 1977.

Minneapolis Institute of Arts. "Japanese Art: Selections from the Mary and Jackson Burke Collection," June 1–July 17, 1977.

Portland Art Museum. "The Floating World Revisited," October 26, 1993–December 30, 1993.

Cleveland Museum of Art. "The Floating World Revisited," February 2, 1994–April 3, 1994.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Japanese Art from The Mary Griggs Burke Collection," March 30–June 25, 2000.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Celebrating the Arts of Japan: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection," October 20, 2015–May 14, 2017.

Murase, Miyeko, Il Kim, Shi-yee Liu, Gratia Williams Nakahashi, Stephanie Wada, Soyoung Lee, and David Sensabaugh. Art Through a Lifetime: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection. Vol. 1, Japanese Paintings, Printed Works, Calligraphy. [New York]: Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, [2013], p. 229, cat. no. 276.