Enjoying the Evening Cool on the Riverbed at Shijo Gawara (四条河原夕涼体, Shijo-gawara yusuzumi no tei)

This woodcut is the center sheet of a larger triptych (three-piece composition), considered one of Kiyonaga's masterpieces. In its complete form, the print shows six geisha (traditional female entertainers) and three female attendants on a platform over the Kamo River in Kyoto. Although the triptych represents a unified panoramic view, each panel is conceived as an independent composition. The central sheet, like the two side panels, depicts a group of three women in varied poses. The sitting and standing women are fashionably dressed in the latest styles of the capital, Edo (present-day Tokyo). The older, reclining geisha wears a more conservative hairstyle and a kimono with a subdued design. Beautifully crafted objects such as a samisen (three-stringed guitar), food bowls, and a tsuitate (low standing screen) with a panel depicting irises, as well as Kiyonaga's signature, surround the women. One of the two lanterns is decorated with three black balls, a symbol of the pleasure quarter.