Streetwalkers Taking a Break in Yoshida-machi, Honjo

Date:: January 1881
Medium:: Woodblock print (nishiki-e), ink and color on paper
Format:: Oban
Dimensions:: 17.9 × 23.8 cm
Source:: Minneapolis Institute of Art

Typical Price

Scarce or exceptional Yoshitoshi composition in fine condition: $1,500–$8,000
Good condition print: $400–$1,500
Later impression or common subject: $200–$600

Description

This January 1881 print captures a scene of working-class women on the streets of Honjo, a district of eastern Edo known for its artisans and laborers rather than its courtesans. Yoshitoshi depicts the women with sociological specificity—their dress, posture, and location mark them clearly as "nighthawks," the lowest tier of unlicensed streetwalkers who operated outside the officially sanctioned pleasure districts. The composition is notable for its unsentimental documentary quality, presenting the subjects with dignity rather than moral judgment.

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 Urban Scenes Prints

A Hundred Shades of Ink of Edo: Kiyonaga's Pipe (Edo zumi hyaku shoku: Kiyonaga no kiseru)

Woodblock print

View of Kabuki Theater from Matsuya (Ginza Matsuya yori Kabukiza), no. 3 from the series "Pictures of Ginza, First Series (Gashu Ginza dai isshu)"

1928

Color lithograph

Distant View of Mitsukoshi Movie Theater in Shinjuku from the Sixth Floor of Hoteiya (Hoteiya rokkai kara Shinjuku Mitsukoshi Musashi no kan enbo zu), no. 1 from the series "Scenery of Shinjuku (Gashu Shinjuku fukei)"

1930

Color lithograph

Spring Dusk at the Tōshō Shrine in Ueno

1948

Woodblock print, ink and color on paper

Featured in Collections

Curated cross-cuts that include this print.

Bijin-ga: Japanese Beauty Prints

Frequently Asked Questions

Streetwalkers Taking a Break in Yoshida-machi, Honjo was created by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (月岡芳年) in January 1881.

Streetwalkers Taking a Break in Yoshida-machi, Honjo depicts urban scenes, figures, and bijin-ga.

Streetwalkers Taking a Break in Yoshida-machi, Honjo measures 17.9 × 23.8 cm (Oban format).