Wakamurasaki of the Kadotamaya, by Chōkōsai Eishō, Japanese, ca. 1800. MET (ID: JP1477)
Little is known about his life, but his surviving works display accomplished skill, suggesting years of prior training. He was the most prominent pupil of Eishi and left behind nearly 200 prints—more than any of Eishi’s other students. Over his career he produced at least twenty print series for fourteen different publishers, most notably Yamaguchiya Chūsuke. His main period of activity was between about 1792 and 1799.
Eishō’s work is thought to have competed directly with that of Utamaro, famed for his vertical ōkubi-e bust portraits of women in the bijin-ga genre. Most of Eishō’s prints followed the same format, depicting women in a graceful, slender style. His best-known works are generally considered to be those of the series Kakuchū bijin kurabe (郭中美人競, “Contest of beauties in the pleasure quarters,” c. 1795–1797). These prints portray real courtesans from the Yoshiwara district, often against shimmering mica backgrounds. Eishō contributed twenty of the twenty-four designs in the series, with the remainder supplied by fellow pupils Eiri and Eiu.
Around 1798–1801 he also illustrated several books, some of them shunga erotica. His prints ceased appearing after 1801, coinciding with the time when Eishi abandoned printmaking in favor of painting. Eishō himself produced few paintings, and the reasons for his withdrawal from print design remain unknown. Among his surviving paintings is a handscroll showing Eishi as an old man, likely created in the 1810s or 1820s.
