Who are these young figures? Where are they going? Their tiny hands and feet and delicate carriage suggest they are barely adolescents. Suzuki Harunobu has added no title to the composition, but his public would recognise the taller figure as Hanaōgi. Her fan says it all: ōgi means fan, and its floral motif hana – together, hanaōgi. ‘Flower-fan,’ was known throughout Edo. She is not yet twenty, but already a highly respected courtesan of the Ōgiya ‘Fan-house’ establishment in the licensed brothel district of shin-Yoshiwara; the second of at least nine women to carry this name. Ōgiya expected its courtesans to maintain the highest standards of artistic taste. Hanaōgi II was celebrated for her classical and spontaneous verse, tea ceremony, and musical skills, and the elegant calligraphy that demonstrated her good character.
From his fortieth year, Suzuki Harunobu redefined the artistic potentials of nishiki-e ‘brocade picture’ polychrome prints. He specialized in pictures of beautiful women, typically engaged in playful activities that echo the refined manners of the well-educated women of the brothel district. His portrait of Hanaōgi and her younger, and unnamed, kamuro (apprentice-maid) reflect fūryū ‘up-to-date’ fashions in dress and beauty, and the taste for the urbane, playful refinement, composure and dignity, and lightly detached resignation known as iki.