Hour of the Rat: 23:00 - 1:00

One design from Utamaro's famous series 'Twelve Hours in the Yoshiwara' - actually 24 hours, as the day is here broken into 12 2-hour groups.

This print represents the Hour of the Rat, which equates roughly to what we would call midnight. A very tall and slender courtesan, just returned from a party, changes into her nightclothes while an apprentice folds up the robe the courtesan has just taken off.

The series makes extensive use of tiny flakes of gold leaf scattered in the background. This version is from the Adachi Company, probably from the 70s to early 80s.