Isoda Koryusai

Isoda Koryusai Ôban. Series: Hinagata wakana no hatsu moyô. Title: Chô jiya uchi Kosôshi (? or Otowaji?), Haruno, Nishiki. Signed: Yamato gakô Koryûsai ga. Publisher: Nishimuraya Yohachi. Probably 1781. Extremely rare. Good impression, colours still good, rubbed and soiled, very thin and missing areas, backed This print has not been published before. It was introduced to Allen Hockley (author of The Prints of Isoda Koryusai: Floating World Culture and Its Consumers in Eighteenth-century Japan), who noted several interesting points: The signature ‘Yamato gakô Koryûsai ga’ is not very common. Koryûsai used it on a few other prints from the Hinagata series, notably among the last few designs he made. The use of this signature suggests that this print must be the last, or among the last ones, that Koryûsai made for the Hinagata series in 1781. In 1782 Kiyonaga took over and continued as the designer of this very popular series. The name of the courtesan could not be identified. It seems to read Kosôshi, but a courtesan by that name could not be found registered with the Chôjiya. The names of the kamuro, Haruno and Nishiki, appear in relation to the courtesan Otowaji of the Chôjiya. However, her name is definitely not written above this design. Otowaji, Haruno and Nishiki are illustrated by Koryûsai in another print of the Hinagata series. The composition of the groups is very similar, but it cannot be ascertained that the courtesan in both prints is the same. Provenienz Privatsammlung, Sachsen-Anhalt