The Courtesan Hinazuru of the Chōjiya Brothel (Chōjiya Hinazuru), from the series Beauties of the Pleasure Quarters as Six Floral Immortals (Seirō bijin rokkasen)

Chōbunsai Eishi

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

At the Chōjiya (House of the Cloves) brothel in Yoshiwara, more than a half dozen courtesans over the course of successive generations styled themselves “Hinazuru” (literally, “baby crane”). The title of this series includes the phrase rokkasen, which sounds like it should mean Six Poetic Immortals, but the character for “poetry” has been playfully substituted with the one for “flower,” suggesting that the women of the pleasure quarters are being compared to beautiful flowers. Each print in this series has a different flower in the title cartouche; here, a peony is included.

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