Nitate Sekko 1760 - 1780

Isoda Koryūsai produced this woodblock print, Nitate Sekko, likely in the 1770s or 80s. It shows a woman on horseback, delicately crossing a stream. The composition immediately suggests the ukiyo-e tradition of ‘pictures of the floating world.’ Prints like these were made for a burgeoning consumer class in Edo period Japan, eager to purchase images of fashionable beauties and popular entertainments. The subject here isn’t just any woman, however. The sword tucked into her sash and specific details of her dress indicate that she is a courtesan, a high-ranking sex worker, whose status was paradoxical. On one hand, they were relegated to the margins of society, on the other, celebrated as arbiters of style and wit. Koryūsai himself had been a samurai before turning to art. We might see his attention to the courtesan, not just as a celebration of her beauty, but as a commentary on the fluid and sometimes contradictory social hierarchies of his time. It’s through understanding the institutions, like the pleasure quarters, and social positions, like that of the samurai turned artist, that we can understand the imagery better.