5EizanKikugawa1787 – 1867Double Portrait of the Courtesan Komurasaki and Her Companion Gonpachi
Double Portrait of the Courtesan Komurasaki and Her Companion Gonpachi
Created1815 – 1820
Technique
Color woodblock print (nishiki-e)
Dimensionsh 60 × w 10 cm Hashira-e
Signature
Eizan hitsu
Short item description
publisher: Moriya Jihei
The names of the legendary lovers doomed to an early death are inscribed at the top of the print. This slender vertical hashira-e shows the famous courtesan Komurasaki accompanied by her youthful lover, the chivalrous otokodate Shirai Gonpachi. Themes of tragic romance, the elongated vertical composition, and finely drawn lines are typical of Eizan’s early bijin-ga — portraits of beauties designed to adorn the wooden interior pillars of Edo’s townhouses (modern Tokyo).
