Three maiko in conversation outside the Ichiriki Chaya in Kyoto. The most famous teahouse in Japan, it figures prominently in the great early 18th century tale of revenge of honor, The Revenge of the Forty-Seven Rōnin.¹

At today's Ichiriki, only established guests are admitted and an evening's entertainment costs many thousands of dollars.

The beautiful red color we see on the building is bengara, a pigment of iron-oxide mixed with sumi, ink made of burned oil ash, and water or oil.  It is said that the word bengara derives from Bengal province in India from where it may have been originally imported.²

1 For more information see Chūshingura (The Treasury of Loyal Retainers) in Woodblock Prints on this site.

² Machiya: History and Architecture of the Kyoto Town House, Karin Löfgren,  Tekniska högsk., 2003, p. 117.

Consisting of six chuban-sized prints (see below) depicting activities and places in and around Kyoto, this series was published by an unknown publisher identified as 宮脇美風扇版 in the rectangular cartouche in the lower right margin of each print.  The publisher's name has been translated as Miyawake Bifu Ōgi, but I can find no reference to this publisher other than its cartouche on this print series.  (For additional discussion of this publisher see "Print Details - Publisher" below.)