A Test of Skill - the Headwaters of Amorousness (Jitsu kurabe iro no minakami): Osan and Mohei
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Source:
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Image courtesy of
- Art Institute of Chicago
This print from A Test of Skill — the Headwaters of Amorousness (Jitsu kurabe iro no minakami) depicts Osan and Mohei, protagonists of a celebrated adultery scandal that inspired both Ihara Saikaku's prose and numerous theatrical adaptations. Osan, wife of a Kyoto money-changer, and Mohei, her husband's clerk, were executed in 1708 after their affair was discovered — a story that combined transgression, pathos, and social critique. Utamaro situates them as famous lovers within a series that catalogued celebrated pairs from history, legend, and popular fiction. The composition likely shows the couple in close proximity, using diagonal figure arrangement and contrasting textile patterns to suggest both intimacy and social disparity.
![A Low Class Prostitute (Gun [teppo]), from the series “Five Shades of Ink in the Northern Quarter" ("Hokkoku goshiki-zumi") by Kitagawa Utamaro](https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/ed82be98-8a83-4163-ccc4-e2f7210cce55/full/843,/0/default.jpg)
c. 1794/95
Color woodblock print; oban
c. 1793
color woodblock print
Woodblock print
Woodblock print
伏見稲荷
Woodblock print
c. 1832/38
Color woodblock print; oban
Woodblock print
Uji Byodoin no ichibu
1921
Color woodblock print; oban
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
A Test of Skill - the Headwaters of Amorousness (Jitsu kurabe iro no minakami): Osan and Mohei was created by Kitagawa Utamaro (喜多川歌麿).
A Test of Skill - the Headwaters of Amorousness (Jitsu kurabe iro no minakami): Osan and Mohei depicts temples & shrines.