Geisha looks up at a flying cuckoo The five annual festivals for the Katsushika poetry association (series title) Katsushika gosekku (series title on object), A geisha washes her sake cup in a porcelain bowl with an iris leaf, while she looks back at a calling cuckoo. On the floor a kettle with spiced sake and behind her a lacquer box containing her koto (Japanese string instrument). With two poems. The iris leaf refers to the boy's feast, which is celebrated in the fifth month. The cuckoo also refers to that month. Katsushika Taito II (mentioned on object), Japan, 1822, paper, colour woodcut, h 204 mm ⊙ w 181 mm.