葛飾北斎の娘・応為が筆で描いた肉筆画です。江戸の町・吉原の夜。格子（こうし）の向こうの明るい部屋には、きらびやかな着物の女性たちがならび、外の暗い通りでは、人々が影になって中をのぞいています。手もとの提灯がぼうっと光り、足もとに丸い影を落とします。東京の太田記念美術館が所蔵しています。

Katsushika Ōi, the daughter of Hokusai, painted this by hand. It is a night in the Yoshiwara district of Edo. Behind a wooden lattice, women in splendid kimono sit in a bright room. Outside on the dark street, people stand as shadows and look in. Lanterns glow softly and cast round shadows at their feet. It belongs to the Ota Memorial Museum of Art in Tokyo.

この絵の主役は「光」と「影」です。浮世絵では影をはっきり描くことはあまりありませんでしたが、応為は明るい室内と暗い外、格子が床に落とす縞模様の影まで描きました。西洋画の明暗法を学んだかのような表現で、「江戸のレンブラント」と呼ばれることもあります。

The real stars of this picture are light and shadow. Ukiyo-e artists rarely painted clear shadows. But Ōi painted the bright room, the dark street, and even the striped shadows of the lattice on the ground. It looks as if she had studied Western light and dark painting. She is sometimes called 'the Rembrandt of Edo'.

応為の本名は栄（えい）。一度結婚しましたが家にもどり、年をとった父・北斎の仕事を助けながら絵を描きました。残る作品は十数点ほどと少なく、亡くなった年もわかっていません。近年は小説やドラマ、映画の主人公にもなり、なぞの女性絵師として注目を集めています。

Ōi's real name was Ei. She married once but came back home. She painted and helped her old father Hokusai with his work. Only about a dozen or so of her works survive, and we do not know when she died. In recent years she has appeared as the main character in novels, TV dramas and films, drawing attention as a mysterious woman artist.