Utamaro Kitagawa

The servant (or kamuro) of the courtesan Yashio holds a miniature garden in his hands. The print comes from a series that plays on the »Six Jewel Rivers« poetic motif. The motif refers to six actual rivers in Japan, all of which were called the 'Jewel River'. The parodic print is concerned with the Jewel River in the Koya Mountains: one assumes that the pagoda in this miniature garden is supposed to recall the large temple complex in the Koya Mountains.