Hana-o_gi was the hereditary name for the reigning courtesan of the O_gi-ya, one of the great brothels of Edo's Yoshiwara pleasure quarters. During the height of Utamaro's fame in the 1790s, Hana-o_gi IV was one of the most celebrated courtesans in all Japan and he produced over a dozen portraits of her. Here she is shown holding a narrow poem card and a brush. Her poem appears in the rectangular box in the upper left corner of the print:
When autumn entered my heart, I wandered into obscure paths;Look! As the night engulfed me, Hana-o_gi came into flower.