This print belongs to a series of seven prints depicting scenes from each of the pleasure quarters in seven cities of Japan. Here an official from the Dutch settlement of Deshima in Nagasaki, seated in a chair, strums on a jabisen as a courtesan, kneeling on the floor, listens intently. The open book in front of her seems to be printed Western-style with horizontal lines of typeface. In a country that had been almost entirely closed to the West for over two centuries, scenes of Dutch officials conveyed a sense of exoticism.