Courtesans Utagawa and Nanasato from the Yotsume house

Album with preface, epilogue and seven double-sided images of high-ranking courtesans with poems in their own manuscripts. In the middle of the picture, courtesan Utagawa reads a letter. To the right of her, a geisha with a shamisen 様 Rechts Rechts (triangular plucking/percussion instrument). In front of her on the floor: a sake bowl (sakazuki), a plectron, the Shamisen box and a table with a coal basin. Behind the geisha is a kamuro with a Sakekanne. To the left of the picture is the courtesan Nanasato, who is about to write a poem on a poem sheet (tanzaku Links 様). The kamuro next to her holds on a tray the ink stick (suzuri Die) with the stirred ink. She wears a kimono decorated with pine twigs and the feather dress (hagoromo) of the celestial creatures from Buddhist paradise. The kimono of the courtesan is embellished with the genji chapter characters and scenes from the genji monogatari Der Der 物様 (The Story of Prince Genji). The lower picture shows a famous scene from the 34th chapter (Wakana Das Das) of the novel. Kashiwagi can catch a glimpse of his beloved Nyosan as a cat walks out of the room and stripes the bamboo curtain. The upper picture could show a scene from the 51st chapter (Ukifune obere) in which Genji’s grandson makes a boat party with his lover. The screen on the left is decorated with a bamboo image and a calligraphy (imitating the style of a chin. Reibedruck). Calligraphy shows the beginning of a famous poem by Ono no Takamura Die Die (802-852). The two poems in the upper part are probably thought up by the courtesans themselves.