Yoshiwara
- Date:
- 1785-1787
- Medium:
- Format:
- Oban
- Source:
- Victoria and Albert Museum
Description
The Yoshiwara licensed pleasure district of Edo — the walled enclave north of Asakusa that housed the city's officially sanctioned entertainment industry — is depicted in this print from Hokusai's mid-1780s series of fashionable places. Yoshiwara was both a geographic location and a cultural universe, its seasons, festivals, and hierarchies constituting a parallel civic life that generated enormous quantities of art, fiction, and popular entertainment.
More Prints by Katsushika Hokusai
Hokusai manga (Hokusai Sketchbooks)
19th century
Woodblock-printed book; ink and light color on paper
Fukuroi
1804
Japanese woodblock print
The Fishermen of Katase Hauling in Their Nets: The Purple Shell (Murasakigai)
1821
Color woodblock print with metallic pigments; surimono shikishiban
Burdock Root (Kurama gobo), from the series "A Selection of Horses (Uma-zukushi)"
1822
Color woodblock print; shikishiban, surimono
More Urban Scenes Prints
A Hundred Shades of Ink of Edo: Kiyonaga's Pipe (Edo zumi hyaku shoku: Kiyonaga no kiseru)
Woodblock print
View of Kabuki Theater from Matsuya (Ginza Matsuya yori Kabukiza), no. 3 from the series "Pictures of Ginza, First Series (Gashu Ginza dai isshu)"
1928
Color lithograph
Distant View of Mitsukoshi Movie Theater in Shinjuku from the Sixth Floor of Hoteiya (Hoteiya rokkai kara Shinjuku Mitsukoshi Musashi no kan enbo zu), no. 1 from the series "Scenery of Shinjuku (Gashu Shinjuku fukei)"
1930
Color lithograph
Spring Dusk at the Tōshō Shrine in Ueno
1948
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Featured in Collections
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yoshiwara was created by Katsushika Hokusai (葛飾北斎) in 1785-1787.
Yoshiwara depicts urban scenes, bijin-ga, and night scenes.