A Yoshiwara Analogue of the Story of Koko (Huang Xiang) from "Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Piety", Rekisentei (Chōkyōsai) Eiri

A Yoshiwara Analogue of the Story of Koko (Huang Xiang) from "Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Piety", c.1791, Rekisentei (Chōkyōsai) Eiri (active ca. 1789-1801), Polychrome woodblock print, ink and color on paper, 23.8 x 18.4 cm

This painting depicts two Yoshiwara women, turned towards the viewer beckoning them closer. The woman in the foreground holds a fan while the other lifts up a blanket she is under. These details along with the title relates them to a story of a boy from the Chinese poem The 24 Paragons of Filial Piety written by Guo Jujing (“24 Paragons Filial Piety”). In the poem, the boy Koko fans a pillow in the hot summer and warms sheets in the cold winter for his father, actions which the women echo. This is one entry into the discussion of how and why women would end up working in the Yoshiwara, as many of them were indentured servants paying off a debt for their families, which could be seen as incredibly filially pious.