A Kamuro is Shown Bringing a Love Letter to Her Mistress 1868 - 1912

Okumura Masanobu created this woodblock print titled, *A Kamuro is Shown Bringing a Love Letter to Her Mistress.* It offers a glimpse into the Yoshiwara district of Edo-period Japan, a licensed red-light district. We see a hierarchy of women here. At the bottom of the pecking order is the Kamuro, an apprentice courtesan, who is delivering a letter to her superior, the high-ranking courtesan or *tayū*. Another attendant is seen helping the *tayū* with her toilette. This print allows us to consider the complex relationships between women within the rigid confines of this pleasure district. These women were commodities, yet they also wielded cultural power, influencing fashion, art, and social trends. What is striking here is the contrast between the emotional labor demanded of these women, and the reality of their situation. The women are selling romance and intimacy, yet their own lives were often circumscribed by debt and obligation.