$1,000–$15,000. Reproductions and common prints: $1,000–$3,000. Key value factors: Yumeji's popular image means many reproductions exist. Original prints are scarcer and more valued.
A house of pleasure on a hill — "Oka no seiro" — overlooks the world below in this composition by Yumeji, the elevated position of the establishment giving it a simultaneous prominence and isolation. The pleasure quarter, set on a hill above the everyday city, occupies an ambiguous position in the social geography of Taisho Japan: visible from below, commanding its own view, but separated from ordinary life by both altitude and the specialized nature of its commerce. Yumeji, who inhabited the border between respectable society and its pleasures, understood this ambiguity.
Wakasa Kugushiko
1920
Color woodblock print; oban
Woodblock print
1934
Color woodblock print; oban
n.d.
Woodblock print; ishizuri-e, section of harimaze sheet
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
House of Pleasure on the Hill (Oka no seirô) was created by Takehisa Yumeji (竹久夢二).
House of Pleasure on the Hill (Oka no seirô) depicts landscapes, bijin-ga, and architecture.
