Isoda Koryūsai. A shunga scene with a female traveller and two palanquin bearers, c. 1770.

Artist: Isoda Koryūsai (礒田湖龍斎, active c. 1764–1789)

Signed: Unsigned

Publisher: Not identified

Date: c. 1770s

Media: Nishiki-e (multi-colored woodblock print), chūban, 193 × 263 mm

Outdoor scene with figures inside and beside a palanquin. A couple is engaged in sexual intercourse within a woven-lattice palanquin (乗物, norimono), the woman seated on the man's lap. Her red robe, adorned with white dragonflies, and her obi are pulled up, exposing her lower body; the man, a palanquin bearer wearing a striped purple kimono, also keeps his lower body exposed. The woman leans against a purple traveller’s bag. Outside the palanquin, another palanquin bearer in a striped robe and head covering rushes forward, holding a round paper lantern; his genitals are visible beneath his short garment. His walking stick lies on the ground—items such as a straw hat and a bundle of clothing rest atop the palanquin. Multiple lines of dialogue and verse are inscribed in cursive calligraphy.