100 Views of Edo # 38 by Ando Hiroshige

Artist: Ando Utagawa Hiroshige (1787-1858)

Title: 100 Views of Edo #38 - Dawn Inside the Yoshiwara

1st Publication: April 1857

Size: 9 x 13-1/4 + Margins as shown

Date of this edition: 1857

Publisher: Uoya Eikichi

Carver: Hori-Sen

Condition: Some light areas in the right and left margins. Some mild foxing by the center of the print, some backing from prior mounting. Very good overall condition

Notes: Great print, a real masterpiece from this 100 views of Edo serie.

More about this print: Daybreak had classic associations in Japanese literature with parting lovers, and the scene played out by the four figures at the center of this print is in keeping with that tradition. It is early dawn in the Yoshiwara, the popular licensed pleasure quarters for the Edo demimonde. To the left is a departing guest, his "cheek-cover hood" discreetly in place for the journey home. An attendant to the rear seems anxious to return to bed, while another one with a lantern stands in front of the guest, facing awkwardly away from him and toward the courtesan, who is clad in a bright-red overgarment and wears raised black clogs that mark her high rank.