Beauty beneath Flowering Cherry Tree  1801

Gallery label: [br]Under branches laden with cherry blossoms, a courtesan poses in the exaggerated gait of her evening procession. Japanese often refer to cherry blossoms, or sakura, simply as hana (the generic word for “flower”), indicating just how supremely the cherry blossom reigns in Japanese hearts. The combination of courtesan and sakura here might imply that she re...