![Hour of the Rat [12pm] (Ne no koku), from the series "The Twelve Hours in Yoshiwara (Seiro juni toki tsuzuki)" by Kitagawa Utamaro — Japanese Color woodblock print; oban, c. 1794](https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/df3242c0-3535-b828-b556-56ca889435cd/full/843,/0/default.jpg)
Hour of the Rat [12pm] (Ne no koku), from the series "The Twelve Hours in Yoshiwara (Seiro juni toki tsuzuki)"
- Series:
- Twelve Hours in Yoshiwara
- Date:
- c. 1794
- Medium:
- Color woodblock print; oban
- Source:
- Art Institute of Chicago
Kitagawa Utamaro's Hour of the Rat (12 p.m.) (Ne no koku), from the series The Twelve Hours in Yoshiwara (Seiro juni toki tsuzuki), is in the Art Institute of Chicago (artwork 23982). Like the other sheets in the series, the design takes one of the twelve traditional Japanese double-hours, here the Hour of the Rat, and assigns it a scene from the daily life of the Yoshiwara. The Hour of the Rat traditionally corresponds to roughly 11 p.m. to 1 a.m., the dead of night, when the licensed quarter's nocturnal activity is at its height for some functions and its quietest for others. Utamaro's choice of subject for this hour, whether an interior scene with a courtesan and an attendant, an after-hours conversation, or a moment of solitary preparation, conveys the rhythm of the great Yoshiwara houses across a 24-hour cycle. The Twelve Hours in Yoshiwara is therefore far more than a decorative series: it is a structured ethnography of the pleasure quarter, in which Utamaro's named and unnamed women act out the temporal logic of their professional world. Stylistically the print belongs to Utamaro's mature Edo [bijin-ga](/glossary/bijin-ga), with refined keyblock drawing, restrained [nishiki-e](/glossary/nishiki-e) color, and a half- or three-quarter-length figural composition that throws hair, collar, and facial expression into relief. The Art Institute of Chicago's holding preserves the Hour of the Rat for researchers tracing the social organization of the Yoshiwara and the way [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e) represented private space within the licensed quarter. For collectors of Utamaro, the Seiro juni toki tsuzuki is among the essential series, and the Hour of the Rat sheet is one of its most quietly observant moments.
![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
Woodblock print
![Hour of the Ox [2am] (Ushi no koku), from the series "The Twelve Hours in Yoshiwara (Seiro juni toki tsuzuki)" by Kitagawa Utamaro](https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/383194e4-1eb2-0166-ee78-500d2ef5d875/full/843,/0/default.jpg)
c. 1794
Color woodblock print; oban
![Hour of the Hare [6am] (U no koku), from the series “The Twelve Hours in Yoshiwara” ("Seiro juni toki tsuzuki") by Kitagawa Utamaro](https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/a9a8d8c0-e642-2335-2538-b61cdd915c94/full/843,/0/default.jpg)
c. 1794
Color woodblock print; oban
![Hour of the Monkey [4pm] (Saru no koku), from the series “The Twelve Hours in Yoshiwara” ("Seiro juni toki tsuzuki") by Kitagawa Utamaro](https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/c1b9dc34-8fb4-0272-3a59-bb71dbda4ca5/full/843,/0/default.jpg)
c. 1794
Color woodblock print; oban
Hour of the Rat [12pm] (Ne no koku), from the series "The Twelve Hours in Yoshiwara (Seiro juni toki tsuzuki)" was created by Kitagawa Utamaro (喜多川歌麿) in c. 1794.
Yes — Hour of the Rat [12pm] (Ne no koku), from the series "The Twelve Hours in Yoshiwara (Seiro juni toki tsuzuki)" is part of the Twelve Hours in Yoshiwara series by Kitagawa Utamaro.
Hour of the Rat [12pm] (Ne no koku), from the series "The Twelve Hours in Yoshiwara (Seiro juni toki tsuzuki)" depicts yoshiwara.