Signed: Eishi zu (栄之図)
Publisher: Izumiya Ichibei (senichi-han seal)
(Marks 180 - seal 25-365)
Censor's seal: kiwame
Related links: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Ritsumeikan University (center panel in b/w); Ritsumeikan University (left panel in b/w); Lyon (another example);Ritsumeikan University (right panel in b/w); Manggha Centre of Japanese Art and Technology, Krakow - the left panel only; Metropolitan Museum of Art - Kiyonaga triptych from ca. 1785; Metropolitan Museum of Art - a different Eishi triptych from ca. 1792;
A young man is entertained by seven young beauties on the Daifuku Pleasure Boat.
Bibliography: Ukiyo-e taisei 7 (1931), #562; Brandt, Hosoda Eishi (1977), fig. 213, list no. 276; Ukiyo-e shūka 8 (1980), Eishi list, #71
Boating scenes with elegant courtesans are one of Eishi's favorite motifs. There are a number of other multi-panel prints, mainly triptychs, showing variations on this theme. Kiyonaga created similar scenes of pleasure boats almost ten years earlier. (See the link at the Metropolitan Museum above.)
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Daifuku (大福) means great fortune or good luck. It is also what the first tea of the New Year is called. Perhaps this triptych represents a celebration of that event. However, the inclusion of the irises and the style of clothing would place this setting closer to the fifth month of the year.