Yoshiwara Courtesans: A New Mirror Comparing the Calligraphy of Beauties (Yoshiwara keisei: Shin bijin awase jihitsu kagami)吉原傾城」新美人合自筆鏡

Kitao Masanobu (Santō Kyōden) 北尾政演 (山東京伝)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Courtesans were alluring not only for their great beauty but also for their artistic and social accomplishments. To be received into their company took aplomb as well as discreet but lavish expenditure. This book chronicles some of the leading women of the day, pairing their portraits with reproductions of each woman's calligraphy. Hinazuru, on the right, has selected a poem by the tenth-century poet Fujiwara Sanesada for her presentation: I turn to look for the summer warbler singing but there is nothing but the moon left at dawn. Her colleague, Chozan, uses a classic anonymous poem from the ninth-century Imperial Kokinshu Anthology: The flying geese leave the spring mists behind without a glance—perhaps they are simply used to living in a village without flowers.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.

Metropolitan Museum of Art