# A Woman's Poetry Party

- By: Chôbunsai Eishi (Japanese, 1756-1829)
- Date: c. 1793
- Medium: Color woodblock print; oban triptych
- Classification: Print
- Dimensions: 37.7 × 74.4 cm (14 7/8 × 29 5/16 in.); Left sheet: 37.7 × 24.2 cm (14 7/8 × 9 9/16 in.); Center sheet: 37.7 × 25.4 cm (14 7/8 × 10 in.); Right sheet: 37.7 × 24.8 cm (14 7/8 × 9 13/16 in.)
- Culture: Japan
- Credit line: Clarence Buckingham Collection
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/89423)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/da5e2ae1-dc80-5fd4-d4c9-292d4466eb04/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Generally, the groups of women depicted in prints were courtesans and their attendants, possibly waiting for male guests. In this unusual print, well-dressed women of the upper classes arrive in the large open parlor of the palace of a daimyo (a provincial governor) near the sea at Suma. The three votive-style hangings in the tokonoma (alcove) in the right background indicate the poetry party. Shown are three ancient poets revered in the Edo period: eighth-century Kakinomoto no Hitomaro and Yamabe no Akihito; in the center is the sixth-century poetess Sotori.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0