A Full Moon

A Full Moon by Keisai Eisen belongs to a sequence loosely identified on [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e).org as 12 [Shunga](/glossary/shunga), suggesting an album-format set of erotic prints in the shunga tradition. Eisen, alongside producing his celebrated [bijin-ga](/glossary/bijin-ga) within Edo ukiyo-e, contributed substantially to shunga literature throughout his career, often working under alternative signatures for projects whose subject lay outside official sanction. The sheet's title refers to the autumnal full moon, an emblem of erotic atmosphere in Edo poetry as well as a calendar marker. The moon's appearance in a shunga sheet typically frames an interior or veranda scene where lovers gather under cool nocturnal light, drawing on the established iconography of moon-viewing parties and seasonal correspondence. Eisen's shunga images tend to share the formal characteristics of his bijin-ga: weighted kimono folds, dense textile pattern, and a strong outline carrying the dramatic energy of the composition. They also reflect the technical sophistication of the late Edo print industry, in which luxury color effects, blind printing, and selective embossing were standard. The ukiyo-e.org entry preserves the sheet as part of a numbered set, though it leaves publisher and precise date undocumented; many Eisen shunga images survive primarily through dealer and collector records rather than museum cataloguing. As a single image within an album, A Full Moon documents Eisen's continued ability to align seasonal symbol, textile detail, and intimate composition within the broader shunga genre of his era.