Moonrise Over the Nihon Embankment and the Yoshiwara

Date:: 1790
Medium:: color woodblock print
Source:: Cleveland Museum of Art

Description

A pale, moon-toned sky and a pine-lined embankment curve along the left half of the print, with tiny figures and a boat on the shoreline below distant rooftops and a thatched hut. On the right, an open-sided pavilion with a slanted tiled roof and tatami floor holds several seated and standing figures in kimono of muted red, black, and ochre, engaged in conversation, with one figure descending a slatted wooden staircase toward a graveled path lined with young pine saplings. The palette is dominated by soft grays, tans, and muted greens, with black outlines and touches of red and rust; this hand-colored woodblock print, "Moonrise Over the Nihon Embankment and the Yoshiwara" by Kitagawa Utamaro (1790), balances the open landscape at left against the architectural interior at right.

More Prints by Kitagawa Utamaro

Akashi of the Tamaya, from the series Seven Komachis of Yoshiwara (Seiro nana Komachi) (Tamaya uchi Akashi, Uraji, Shimano)

Woodblock print

Hour of the Tiger (Tora no koku = 4 AM) from the series Twelve Hours in Yoshiwara (Seirô jûni toki tsuzuki), Late Edo period, circa 1794

Woodblock print

Ikebana arrangement of Peony and Willow in Dragon Pot

1781–1806

Woodblock print (nishiki-e), ink and color on paper

The Greatest Beauties of Our Time (Toji zensei bijin zoroe): Somenosuke of the Matsubaya with Attendants Wakagi and Wakaba

Woodblock print

More Moonlight Prints

Mount Fuji on a Moonlit Night, Kawai Bridge (Tsukiyo no Fuji [Kawaibashi]), from the series "Selection of Views of the Tokaido (Tokaido fukei senshu)"

1947

Color woodblock print; oban

Evening Moon at Nakanoshima, Sapporo (Sapporo Nakanoshima no yuzuki), from the series "Collection of Views of Japan, Eastern Japan Edition (Nihon fukei shu higashi Nihon hen)"

March 1933

Color woodblock print; oban

Matsushima in Moonlight (Tsuki no Matsushima)

1919

Color woodblock print

Kiyozumi Garden in Moonlight

January 1938

Woodblock print, ink and color on paper

Frequently Asked Questions

Moonrise Over the Nihon Embankment and the Yoshiwara was created by Kitagawa Utamaro (喜多川歌麿) in 1790.

Moonrise Over the Nihon Embankment and the Yoshiwara depicts moonlight.