Courtesan Dreaming a Lucky New Year Dream of Fuji, Falcon, and Eggplant

Koryusai Isoda was an 18th-century ukiyo-e artist known for his bijin-ga (pictures of beautiful women), kacho-e (bird-and-flower pictures), hashira-e (pillar prints) and shunga (erotic prints). Born into the samurai class as Masakatsu Isoda, Koryusai’s family served the daimyo (regional lord) of Tsuchiya, yet Koryusai left courtly life. He became a ronin (a samurai without a master) and commenced his artistic career. Training first as a painter with the Kano school, Koryusai changed his course to printmaking in the mid-1760s. While cited as the pupil of Shigenaga Nishimura, Koryusai’s early prints (signed “Haruhiro”) suggest the tutelage of Harunobu Suzuki (1735-1790). From ehon (illustrated books) to single-sheet prints, Koryusai Isoda was a prolific artist. From the mid-1770s he was also one of the first ukiyo-e artists to use the oban format for prints (approximately 14 x 10 in). This size allowed larger compositions and soon became the standard size for ukiyo-e. In 1776, he completed Models for Fashion, one of his most famous woodblock print series. Around 1781, Koryusai shifted his focus from print design to painting. Soon after this transition, the emperor bestowed Koryusai with the prestigious epithet of “Hokkyo,” a high honor at the time.