100 Aspects, No 1. The Courtesan Takao

In the sixteenth century in Japan, there was a famous lineage of courtesans who went by the name Takao. Yoshitoshi’s biographer John Stevenson suggests this image may be the 6th Takao, who was also known for her poetry — inspired by birdsong and her distant lover to compose the verse: “By now you must be near Komakata - a cuckoo calls.”