Hosoda eishi biography of rory

The album Nishikizuri onna sanjurokkasenknown in the West by the shortened title "The Thirty-six Immortal Women Poets" is one of the most fascinating Japanese publications of the early 19th century lavishly printed in colour by woodblock.

It was published in 1801 by the Edo publisher Eijudo Nishimuraya Yohachi with thirty-six plates by Hosoda Eishi (1756-1829), one frontispiece plate by Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), one preface, two pages of after-words and a colophon.
Each plate depicts, on the left, one of the thirty-six women poets active during the Heian (794-1185) and Kamakura (1185-1333)  periods and, on the right, one of their poems.
Their poems were an important element of classical culture from the 9th to the 12th century.