Height: 38.30 centimetres

Width: 25.40 centimetres

Asano and Clark 1995

The courtesan Orihae puts on a surcoat, helped by a 'shinzo'. Behind them a 'kamuro' is pulling faces in the mirror. Orihae was of 'chusan' rank in the brothel owned by Chojiya Chojuro on the right side of Edo-cho 2-chome. She appears in the 'Yoshiwara saiken' guides from the edition of autumn of 1793, but the names of the ‘kamuro’ given in the guide do not match the present print. Probably Orihae made her debut in the brothel during the spring of 1793, after the New Year edition of the 'saiken' had been published. This print may have been issued to commemorate that event. By the time the autumn edition of the ‘saiken’ was published, the names of her 'kamuro' must have changed. The names of Orihae's attendants, as they appear in the square cartouche on the present print, are listed above. The 'kyoka' poem, which weaves in a punning reference to Orihae's name, reads: "Hearing the first cuckoo of spring/They unfold the screen in the bedchamber,/And he whispers the promise behind it/After their first encounter/That he will visit again. Kakusantei."

Literature: "Kitagawa Utamaro sakuhin mokuroku" 「喜多川歌麿作品目録」, 'Ukiyo-e shuka', 「浮世絵聚花」, vol. 3 (Bosuton Bijutsukan III ボストン美術館３), Shogakkan, Tokyo, 1978, pp. 235-254, pls. 33-8. 'Ukiyo-e shuka' 「浮世絵聚花」, vol. 11, Shogakkan, Tokyo, 1978-85, pl. 40.

Other impressions: Musée National des Art Asiatiques-Guimet, Paris.

[Main text translated in Japanese below / 以下上記本文日本語訳]

浅野／クラーク、1995

打掛を着る折栄である。着せているのは新造であろう。後ろで禿が鏡に向かってふざけている。折栄は、江戸町二丁目仲の町より入って右側に在った丁子屋長重郎抱えの中三であるが、吉原細見にみえるのは寛政5年秋版からである。禿名はそれとも合致しない。寛政5年春版が出た後、おそらく同年春に突き出しで見世に出、それに合わせるようにこの錦絵が刊行されたものと思われる。その後、秋版の細見が刊行されるまでに禿名が変わったのではないであろうか。

色紙形枠内は、「丁子屋内折はへ　さゝの　うらの　唐はし　ことつる　つやま」。狂歌は次の通りである。

ほとときすねやの屏風を折はへて はつねの耳にうらの約束