Geisha Girl Hurrying with a Maid Servant Who is Carrying a Shamisen Box 1771 - 1844

Teisai Hokuba created this woodblock print depicting a geisha and her maid in Japan, sometime between the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It captures a moment of everyday life but also hints at the social structure of the time. The image visualizes the geisha's elevated status. She is hurrying, yet her elaborate kimono and hairstyle mark her as someone of importance, while the maid struggles to carry the shamisen, a three-stringed instrument, symbolic of the geisha's profession. The print suggests a world of entertainment, art, and the complex social rituals associated with it. The inclusion of calligraphy further elevates the artwork, linking it to a rich literary tradition. To understand this print more fully, we might consult historical records of the pleasure quarters in cities such as Edo or Kyoto. We can research the patronage systems that supported artists like Hokuba, as well as the social hierarchies that shaped the lives of women in this period. The meaning of such an image is always contingent on its historical context.