Complete View of a Courtesan House in Tokyo

Date:: 1870, 3rd lunar month
Medium:: Woodblock print (nishiki-e), ink and color on paper
Format:: Oban
Dimensions:: 36.8 × 25.4 cm
Source:: Minneapolis Institute of Art

Typical Price

Fine beauty print from late Meiji career in excellent condition: $1,000–$5,000
Good condition beauty subject: $400–$1,500
Standard impression: $200–$600

Description

"Complete View of a Courtesan House in Tokyo" (1870) provides a panoramic interior view of one of the establishments that defined the Yoshiwara pleasure district, now transplanted in the early Meiji era from Edo to the renamed metropolis of Tokyo. The print functions as a kind of architectural and social document, showing the elaborate spatial hierarchy of the pleasure quarter—the display rooms where courtesans received visitors, the inner chambers reserved for honored guests. Yoshitoshi's treatment combines [bijin-ga](/glossary/bijin-ga) portraiture with the bird's-eye perspective of architectural topographic prints.

More Prints by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

Shunkan Watching Enviously from Kikai Island as Yasuyori Returns to the Capitol after Being Unexpectedly Pardoned (Shunkan sozu Kikaigashima ni oite tamatama Yasuyori no shamen senbo kito no zu)

Looking as if She Wants to Go for a Walk: The Fashion of a Married Woman of the Meiji Era (Yūho ga shitasō, Meiji nenkan saikun no fūzoku), from the series Thirty-two Appearances of Fashion (Fūzoku sanjūni sō)

Slovenly (Shidaranasaso), from the series "Thirty-two Aspects of Women (Fuzoku sanjuniso)"

1888

Color woodblock print; oban

Four PM, from the series "Twenty-Four Hours in Shinbashi and Yanagibashi"

n.d.

Color woodblock print

More Landscapes Prints

Lake Kugushi in Wakasa Province (Wakasa Kugushiko), from the series Souvenirs of Travel I (Tabi miyage dai isshu)"

Wakasa Kugushiko

1920

Color woodblock print; oban

Autumn Maple Leaves at Takao, from the album Eight Views of Kyoto (Kyôto hakkei)

Woodblock print

The Beach at Kaiganji in Sanuki Province (Sanuki Kaiganji no hama), from the series "Collection of Views of Japan II, Kansai Edition (Nihon fukei shu II Kansai hen)"

1934

Color woodblock print; oban

Tea Kettle, section of a sheet from the series "Mirror of Stone Rubbings of Views of the Provinces" (Kohon meihitsu ishizuri kagami)

n.d.

Woodblock print; ishizuri-e, section of harimaze sheet

Featured in Collections

Curated cross-cuts that include this print.

Mount Fuji in Japanese Woodblock Prints Bijin-ga: Japanese Beauty Prints Meisho-e: Famous-Place Prints

Frequently Asked Questions

Complete View of a Courtesan House in Tokyo was created by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (月岡芳年) in 1870, 3rd lunar month.

Complete View of a Courtesan House in Tokyo depicts landscapes and bijin-ga, set at Tokyo.

Complete View of a Courtesan House in Tokyo measures 36.8 × 25.4 cm (Oban format).