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The silhouette of a white lute is overlaid with woodcut images of three musicians. The lute is centered on a dark blue background embellished with orange and white flowers and leaves.
Illustration by Shuixin Wang (RISD BFA 2023, Graphic Design)

Striking Chords

Music in *Ukiyo-E* Prints
February 5 - July 31, 2022
The silhouette of a white lute is overlaid with woodcut images of three musicians. The lute is centered on a dark blue background embellished with orange and white flowers and leaves.
Illustration by Shuixin Wang (RISD BFA 2023, Graphic Design)

Introduction

The music that permeated Japanese society during the Edo period (1615-1868) is vividly captured in ukiyo-e woodblock prints. Ukiyo-e, which means “pictures of the floating world,” depicted townspeople engaged in a range of leisurely pursuits, where music and other pleasures of the senses were prevalent themes. A time of economic prosperity and flourishing cultural arts, the Edo period is defined as the 253 years the Tokugawa shogunate governed from the city of Edo, now known as Tokyo.

Music heralded festivities and good fortune, pervading images produced for celebrations. Prints of Benzaiten, the goddess of music and wealth, and of children with instruments foretold happiness. Portrayals of professional entertainers playing music or performing, popular among ukiyo-e enthusiasts, stirred the imagination and delighted audiences with dazzling displays of the latest fashions. Compositions invoking literary or historical tales often featured musical scenes that combined song and dance. Travel too was accompanied by the strains of itinerant blind musicians, as glimpsed through some of the prints in this exhibition.

These selections were curated by students in the RISD class Ukiyo-e Prints (THAD-H791-01, Fall 2021). To watch performances using instruments depicted in the prints, visit the QR codes provided on the object labels.

RISD Museum is supported by a grant from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, through an appropriation by the Rhode Island General Assembly and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and with the generous partnership of the Rhode Island School of Design, its Board of Trustees, and Museum Governors.

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Events

A richly embossed woodblock print with metallic embellishments. A seated man in a floral-patterned maroon robe plays the flute. A black lacquered screen is beside him.
  • Performances and Screenings /
  • Musical Performance

Performance

Flowing Wind, Beating Thunder: An Introduction to the Japanese Flute and Drums
May 14, 2022 / 2-3 pm
  • Work in Process

Work in Progress

Sketching Sound
May 8, 2022 / 12-2 pm
  • Performances and Screenings /
  • Musical Performance

Performance

Traditional Japanese Music by Sumie Kaneko - Full to capacity
March 12, 2022 / 2-3:45 pm
The silhouette of a white lute is overlaid with woodcut images of three musicians. The lute is centered on a dark blue background embellished with orange and white flowers and leaves.

Striking Chords

Music in *Ukiyo-E* Prints
February 5 - July 31, 2022

Related Objects

A three-part woodblock print in muted tones. Lavishly dressed women play music in a room opening onto a garden. A young man plays the flute outside the garden fence.

Kitagawa Utamaro 喜多川歌麿

Ushiwakamaru Serenading Princess Joruri by Flute, Edo (Japanese period)
A muted red and green colored woodblock print of a Japanese actor playing a small hand drum. He is depicted in a room with a half-opened sliding door behind him.

Torii Kiyomitsu I

Segawa Kikunojō II, Edo (Japanese period)
A woodblock print of a seated woman. She wears a rich black robe embellished in metallic floral patterns and holds a round lute. Poems are inscribed above the image.

Kōitsu

Woman with a Moon Lute, Edo (Japanese period)
A polychrome woodblock print of seven women merry-making on a canopied boat. Some play music while others drink and enjoy the view.

Chōbunsai Eishi

Beauties Boating on the Sumida River, Edo (Japanese period)
A woodblock print of a red-crested black rooster perched on a wooden drum. Red and yellow ivy leaves swirl around the rooster.

Utagawa Yoshimori

Cockerel Ivy, and Drum, Edo (Japanese period)
A woodblock print of a green-robed woman holding a three-stringed musical instrument. She looks down at a child on a hobbyhorse. A picture of a white horse is framed above.

Torii Kiyomitsu II (Kiyomine)

Year of the Horse, Edo (Japanese period)
  • More objects +

Striking Chords : Music in *Ukiyo-E* Prints

February 5 - July 31, 2022
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