Kōmei Bijin Rokkasen

Kōmei Bijin Rokkasen (高名美人六家撰, "Renowned Beauties from the Six Best Houses") is a series of ukiyo-e prints designed by the Japanese artist Utamaro and published in c. 1795–96.

Ukiyo-e art flourished in Japan during the Edo period from the 17th to 19th centuries, and took as its primary subjects courtesans, kabuki actors, and others associated with the "floating world" lifestyle of the pleasure districts.

[2] A prominent genre was bijin-ga ("pictures of beauties"), which depicted most often courtesans and geisha at leisure, and promoted the entertainments of the pleasure districts.

[4] Utamaro experimented with line, colour, and printing techniques to bring out subtle differences in the features, expressions, and backdrops of subjects from a wide variety of class and background.

[6] Retitled versions of the prints appeared in a later series titled Fūryū Rokkasen (風流六歌撰, "Elegant Six Immortal Poets").

[8] A rebus appears in the corner of each print bearing the title Kōmei Bijin Rokkasen (高名美人六家撰, "Renowned Beauties from the Six Best Houses")[6] and a hanji-e[a] picture-puzzle.

She wears an ornate hairpin with a paulownia blossom in it and her clothing is patterned with stylized ivy, both symbols associated with O-Kita.

[11] O-Kita's name is deciphered from the hanji-e as follows: from top to bottom, two bunches of rapeseed (菜二把 na ni-wa; wa is a Japanese counter word for bundles), an arrow (屋, ya), the open sea offshore (沖, and a rice paddy field (田 ta).

[11] Rokō's name is deciphered from the hanji-e as follows: from top to bottom, a dragon (竜 tatsu), a snake (蛇, mi on the Chinese zodiac), a pair of rowing sculls (艪 ro), and some burning incense (香 kō).

[12] Utamaro depicts Takashimaya O-Hisa (高島屋おひさ),[15] the eldest daughter of Takashima Chōbei, the owner of a roadside teahouse at his home called Senbeiya[16] in which Hisa worked attracting customers.

[6] Utamaro depicts the courtesan Hanaōgi of the Ōgiya (扇屋花扇) as she composes a letter,[18] writing brush held to her cheek as she stares at the paper deep in thought.

The Ōgiya was a large, long-established shop in Yoshiwara,[c] and Hanaōgi built her reputation in the 1780s for her beauty and her skills in singing, playing the koto, the tea ceremony, the Chinese classics, and incense.

[16] Toyohina's name is deciphered from the hanji-e as follows: a lottery box in the top right marked tomi (富 "wealth" or "fortune"), some algae (藻, mo), a grinding stone (砥 to), a door (戸 to), a paper lantern signifying "night" (夜 yo), and a paper hina doll (雛 hina).