Utagawa Kuniyasu (歌川国安) (artist 1794 – 1832)
Three young geisha performing in the New Yoshiwara by lantern light for the Niwaka Festival - 新吉原仁和嘉
ca 1825
9.875 in x 14.5 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese woodblock print
Signed: Kuniyasu ga (国安画)
Publisher: Tsuruya Kiemon
(Marks 553 - seal 22-006)
Censor's seal: kiwame
Clearly this is one panel of a multi-panel composition. You can see along the left edge the top of a musical instrument, most of which would be seen in that panel.
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These geisha are performing on shamisen. It should be noted that in a lecture, 'The Poetics of Inscribed Kabuki Actor Prints', viewable on YouTube, by John T. Carpenter said that the three-string shamisen was "the most common instrument of the Yoshiwara brothels as well as kabuki and among geisha."
Tsuruya Kiemon (鶴屋喜右衛門) (publisher)
beautiful women (bijin-ga - 美人画) (genre)