Edo gallery 1: The floating world-- Image and Text

Kubo Shumman, "The Shikian Restaurant." Woodblock print (diptych); 25.3 x 72.6 cm; ca. 1787-88. From Donald Jenkins, ed., The Floating World Revisited (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press and Portland Art Museum, 1993) 112.

Katsukawa Shunchô, "Entering the Teahouse," hanging scroll mounted on panel; ink, colors and gold on silk; 64.5 x 150.7 cm; ca. 1790. From The Floating World Revisited 124.

Torii Kiyotada II, "Courtesan Arriving to Meet Her Guest at a Teahouse," hanging scroll; ink and colors on paper; 128.3 x 83.8 cm. From The Floating World Revisited 131.

Above: Katsuchika Hokusai, "New Year's Day at the Ogiya." Woodblock print (pentaptych); 36.8 x 123.2 cm; ca. 1811. From The Floating World Revisited 146-147.

Suzuki Harunobu, "Two Men Watching a Courtesan Through a Window." Woodblock print (hashira-e); 68.6 x 12.3 cm; late 1760's. From The Women of the Pleasure Quarter 89.

Kitagawa Utamarô, page from Seirô ehon nenjû gyôji ("Picture Book of Annual Observances at the Green Houses"); 1804. From The Floating World Revisited 159.

Mizuno Rochô, "Seated Courtesan with Dog." Hanging scroll; ink and colors on silk; 51.5 x 69.2 cm; early 1780's. From The Floating World Revisited 132.

Katsuchika Tatsu, "Woman Viewing Morning Glories." Hanging scroll; ink and colors on silk; 34 x 45 cm; ca. 1810. Katsuchika Tatsu was the daughter of Katuschika Hokusai. The two poems are signed by poets with the psuedonyms "Nanamagaritei" and "Chôkôtei Undô." Atypically, they seem to be written from left to right. The transcription and translation given in The Floating World Revisited 137 are as follows: Tsubomi no/ okidashi/ imoto ga kinu yorimo/ kasuri ni sakeru/ asagao no hana (For awakening the bud, little sister blooms more by a touch than by silks, flower of the morning glory). Kaki ni yori/ tori eshi/ mama no/ asagaho ni/ tsuyu mo shitataru/ omofu/ taoyame (Freshly picked as it grew by the fense, the dew still trickles off the morning glory, the tender blossom deep in her thoughts). From The Floating World Revisited 136.

Suzuki Harunobu, "lovers." Woodblock print; 21 x 28.7 cm; late 1760's. From Elizabeth de Sabato Swinton, The Women of the Pleasure Quarter: Japanese Paintings and Prints of the Floating World ( New York: Hudson Hills Press and the Worcester Art Museum, 1995) 73.

Suzuki Harunobu, "A Young Man Unrolling a Hanging Scroll." Woodblock print; 42.9 x 30.8 cm; ca. 1765-1770. The poem above reads, Hito kokoro hiraku ya Fuji no hatsugasumi (A person's heart opens/ the first mist at the foot of Mr. Fuji.) From Elizabeth de Sabato Swinton, The Women of the Pleasure Quarter 113.

Kitagawa Fujimaro, "Man Strolling with a Boy Carrying Flowering Branches." Hanging scroll; ink and colors on silk; 94 x 31 cm; ca 1810. The poem by Hanshin reads: Taoyakeru/ sakura o nomi ya/ hana to iwan/ wakaki no ume no/ iro moenaranu (The full blooming cherry is not the only flower worth mentioning; the color of the young plum tree blooms as well). Reproduction, poem transliteration, and translation from The Floating World Revisited 197.

Katsukawa Shun'ei, "Courtesan Reading a Letter." Hanging scroll; ink and colors on silk; 84 x 33 cm; 1790s. The Chinese poem above is composed and inscribed by Ota Nampo (Shokusanji) and reads, in Japanese fashion: Yûkun gochô kaku/ kukai jûnen ryû/ nijû shichi mei mu/ Aa shin kirô (Courtesans of the five streests of the quarter, ten years adrift on an ocean of troubles, released at twenty-seven with misguided dreams. Ah! This bitter mirage of the brothels) [Translation by Timothy Clark]. From The Floating World Revisited 133.

Kitagawa Utamarô, "Oiran" from the series Five Shades of Ink from the North Country. Woodblock print; 38 x 25.2 cm; 1795. From Elizabeth de Sabato Swinton, The Women of the Pleasure Quarter 39.

Kitagawa Utamarô, "Teppô" from the series Five Shades of Ink from the North Country. Woodblock print; 38 x 25.2 cm; 1795. From Elizabeth de Sabato Swinton, The Women of the Pleasure Quarter 40.

Utagawa Kunisada, "A Beauty Putting Out a Floor Lamp," from the series Secret Meetings by Moonlight. Woodblock print; 37.1 x 24.4 cm; ca. 1836-1838. From The Women of the Pleasure Quarter 128.

Above: Three pages from Santô Kyôden (Kitao Masanobu)'s book of illustrated fiction, Playboy, Grilled Edo-style (Edo-umare uwaki no kabayaki, 1785). From Nihon koten bungaku taikei 59: kibyôshi sharebonshû (Iwanami shoten, 1958, 136-137). As translated by Sumie Jones, the first panel reads: "Here is Enjirô, the only son of the famous millionaire Adakiya. At nineteen or twenty, his situation is best described by the lines in a song, 'I don't have any poverty to complain about/ and I hope I won't suffer from other diseases.' Amorous by nature, he envies the fates of Tamakiya Itahachi and Ukiyo Inosuke, whom he reads about in shinnaibushi song books. He thinks fame as a beau would be a great mark to leave behind on earth and makes the ridiculous resolution of devoting his life singlemindedly to that purpose." The small block of writing above Enjirô reads: "It would be great fun to fall into a fate like theirs. They were born under lucky stars!" Translated in Sumie Jones, "William Hogarth and Kitao Masanobu: Reading Eighteenth-Century Pictorial Narratives" Yearbook of Contemporary and General Literature ( Bloomington, Indiana) No.34: 49, 51.