Utamaro Kitagawa

Utamaro depicts a room full of working geishas. Some are dancing and making music, it is possible to pick out shamisen and a gekkin or moon guitar, while others are occupied with parlour games and a woman on the left in the print is serving tea. This is an example of mitate-e, or 'parody picture'. Instead of the more common geisha scenarios aimed at men, we are dealing here with an exclusively female audience.