Hour of the Tiger, 1794 (japanese print)

Tora no koku is the Hour of the Tiger, about 4:00 in the morning. It was at such an after-work hour that courtesans could talk freely, often to badmouth the guests. Two courtesans sit and chat before a hibachi heater. They appear cold, with their arms withdrawn into their kimonos. The woman to the right fans the hibachi with a folded stack of kaishi paper. From the Seirō Jūnitoki Tsuzuki ("Twelve Hours in Yoshiwara" a series of twelve ukiyo-e prints designed by the Japanese artist Utamaro and published in c. 1794. They depict scenes of courtesans in the Yoshiwara pleasure district at each hour of the twelve-hour traditional Japanese time system.