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Introduction

Courtesans of the Floating World

May 30 - August 30, 1986

The art of Japan produced during the Edo period (1600-1868) consisted largely of ukiyo-e or "pictures of the fleeting, floating world." These prints, which were intially intended for those too poor to buy paintings, were ultimately admired and collected by people of all classes. Japan's policy of seclusion (sakoku) instituted by the Tokugawa shogunate around 1640 provided the ideal climate for the burgeoning popularity of ukiyo-e. As both war and foreign trade were at once eliminatead, the middle and upper classes susddenly found themselves with both more wealth and more leisure time to dispose of. The populace wanted works of art which celebrated their everyday interests, their heroes and heroines. There were no military escapades and no travel; the males in this society were forced to look to other sources for adventure. The kabuki theatre and the Yoshiwara or Gay Quarters became the predominant amusements. Not surprisingly, nearly two thirds of the prints produced during the 17th and 18th centuries are devoted to these subjects and almsot the whole corpus of portrait pictures depict the famed high class courtesans (oiran) of the pleasure districts.

The pleasure district, which existed in every major city, was an enclosed area with one main thoroughfare and and five or seven intersecting streets. The Yoshiwara was open to all social classes and men wandered the streets socializing with one another or chatting to teh courtesans through the bars of the greenhouses or teahouses. The government licensed Japanese courtesan was a breed apart; condoned utterly by society, she could consider herself "the pride of Edo (Tokyo)." Highly educated, talented, and attractive, she was, in many ways, treated as a princess and thought of as the ideal of Japanese womanhood.

The intellectural equals of the men who visited them, courtesans were expert in a variety of skills including singing and dancing, writing poetry, perfoming the tea ceremony, and flower arrangement. She was a rarefied creature whose opulent coiffure was arranged on a metal frame and held there by long metal or wood pins; her kimonos and obis were made in the latest and most sumptuous silk prints and were far more elaborate than those of other women. SHe spoke in an archaic language and her refinement exceeded that of any other group of women, most of whom were purposely kept uneducated and inactive.

The prints in this exhibition, made by such artists as Utamaro, Harunobu, and Shuncho, depict the gorgeously attired courtesan engaged in some of her numerous daily activities including making up, promenading with her kamuro (attendant), and picnicking beneath the flowering plum trees. Her world seems filled with the most delightful pastimes, completely free from teh worries and restraints whihc plagued the rest of the population. This romantic, carefree image was just the one that the Tokugawa shogunate and the Japanese themselves wished to foster:

...living only for the moment, turning our full attention to the pleasures of the moon, the snow, the cherry blossoms and the maple leaves; singing songs, drinking wine, diverting ourselves in jsut floating, floating; caring not a whit for the pauperism staring us in the face, refusing to be disheartened like a gourd floating along with the river current: this is what we call the floating world... -- Ryoi, Ukiyo monogatari (Tales of the Floating World, ca. 1661).

Selected Objects

Kitagawa Tsukimaro

Karakoto and her kamuro Yayoi of the Chijoya (Chojiyanai karakoto to yayoi), ca. 1810

Kikukawa Eizan

Courtesan on Parade (Oiran dochu), 1830s

Utagawa Toyokuni II (Toyoshige)

The courtesan Shirokawa and her two kamuro Nagisa and Yumeno of the Tamaya (Tamaya nai shirokawa nagisa yumeno), 1830's

Suzuki Harunobu

Courtesan and Kamuro (Yujo to kamuro), ca. 1770

Suzuki Harunobu

Courtesan Utena of the Shinkanaya by a hibachi (Shinkanaya Utena), 1770

Kikukawa Eizan

Three elegant beauties enjoying the evening cool (Fūryū yusuzumi san bijin), ca. 1810

Katsukawa Shuncho

Courtesan and boy (Yujo to otoko no ko), ca. early 1790's

Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III)

Patrinia flower (Valerian) (Ominaeshi), ca. 1832-1834

Keisai Eisen

Ono no Komachi at Sekidera (Sekidera komachi), ca. 1825

Katsukawa Shuncho

Courtesan and Kamuro (Yujo to kamuro), early 1790s

Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III)

The Ōdori Village Scene in Meguro hiyoku zuka, from an untitled series of jōruri libretti, ca. 1832

Ippitsusai Bunro

Young man and woman with falcons (Danjo to taka), 1800-1810

Utagawa Toyokuni

Shin Umeya, Sumida River (Sumidagawa shin umeya nai no zu), ca. 1810

Kitagawa Utamaro

Left panel of the triptych Washing and Stretching Cloth (Arai-bari), ca. 1796-1797

Ishikawa Toyonobu

The left panel of a triptych showing the courtesan Yugiri of the Ogiya (OgiyaYugiri), 1730's

Keisai Eisen

The Fickle Type: Takanawa (Uwakiso takanawa), 1820's

Kitagawa Utamaro

The courtesan Hanaogi of the Ogiya with her shinzo Yoshino and Tatsuta and kamuro (Ogiya no nai Hanaogi Yoshino Tatsuta), ca.1795

Keisai Eisen

Moon: The courtesan Egawa of the Marueiya (Tsuki: Egawa Marueiya nai), 1830's

Ishikawa Toyonobu

The right panel of a triptych showing the courtesan Koito of the Itoya, 1730's

Suzuki Harunobu

Courtesan Naniwae scratching her back with pipe (Naniwae), 1770

Ippitsusai Bunro

Young man and woman with falcons (Danjo to taka), 1800-1810

Kikukawa Eizan

Three fashionable beauties enjoying the evening cool, ca. 1810

Kikukawa Eizan

Three fashionable beauties enjoying the evening cool, ca. 1810

Kikukawa Eizan

Three fashionable beauties enjoying the evening cool, ca. 1810

Utagawa Toyokuni

Shin Umeya, Sumida River (Sumidagawa shin umeya nai no zu), ca. 1810

Utagawa Toyokuni

Shin Umeya, Sumida River (Sumidagawa shin umeya nai no zu), ca. 1810

Utagawa Toyokuni

Shin Umeya, Sumida River (Sumidagawa shin umeya nai no zu), ca. 1810

More objects +

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