Geisha from Tachibana

This print comes from a series of twenty-one designs, five of which are diptychs, portraying amusements of the various pleasure quarters in Edo. The title, Kitchūgi (literally, “geisha from the Tachibana [district]”) refers to an area west of the Ryōgoku Bridge along the Hamamachi Canal, where many prostitutes lived while waiting to be called to the pleasure quarters in Ryōgoku. The word kitchūgi also shares pronunciation with the phrase “playing chess inside a mandarin orange.” According to Chie Hirano, this play on words alludes to the Chinese legend of a man who finds an enormous mandarin in his orchard with two old men playing chess inside the narrow space.24 The men say that they are having as much fun as if they were on Mt. Shang, where the four sages lived in retirement. Because the geographic name “Tachibana” means “mandarin,” the title plays on the idea that this district is a “narrow place in which you can enjoy yourself.” The two women in the front run into the wind, followed by their maid carrying an umbrella. Their attempt to preserve their appearance in the heavy wind is only partially successful, as their robes fly open exposing red and white underrobes that ripple tantalizingly around their bare legs. Equally impressive is the show of textiles: a kosode with pattern known as sayagata and a paste-resist-dyed furisode with paulownia motifs around the hem, lower front flaps, and sleeves, worn with an exotic obi of imported Indian chintz (sarasa).