Ichimura Takenojo and Sanjo Kantaro as a Pair of Lovers in the Yoshiwara (early 1720s): Art, History and Details

Ichimura Takenojo and Sanjo Kantaro as a Pair of Lovers in the Yoshiwara (early 1720s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Torii Kiyonobu I (Japanese, 1664–1729).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Kiyonobu's prints are usually hand-colored and outlined in black. They often depict actors and scenes from plays. Kiyonobu's was largely responsible for introducing theater prints as commercial products. He is regarded as the founder of the Torii school, which with its close relationship to the theater, dominated printmaking for 75 years until the appearance of Shunsho in the late 1700s.

Object facts

• Title: Ichimura Takenojo and Sanjo Kantaro as a Pair of Lovers in the Yoshiwara
• Date: early 1720s
• Creator attribution: Torii Kiyonobu I (Japanese, 1664–1729)
• Culture: Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
• Type: Print
• Technique: hand-colored woodblock print
• Dimensions: Image: 31.1 x 15.2 cm (12 1/4 x 6 in.)
• Collection: Japanese Art
• Department: Japanese Art
• Accession number: 1974.80

Collection credit

Gift of Jeptha H. Wade in honor of Emily V. Wade

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.