New Yoshiwara (Shin Yoshiwara), from the series Famous Places in the Eastern Capital (early 1830s): Art, History and Details

New Yoshiwara (Shin Yoshiwara), from the series Famous Places in the Eastern Capital (early 1830s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Utagawa Kuniyoshi (Japanese, 1797–1861).

The work and its context

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

In this dramatic night scene, Kuniyoshi emphasized the moon and its huge glowing halo. He employed Western-style shadows beneath the figures and the palanquin. The man at the center is singing with his mouth wide open. Perhaps he is headed home after drinking in New Yoshiwara, the pleasure quarter, visible only as a series of low rooflines in the background beyond the rice paddies. The chatting pair and wealthy passenger inside the palanquin may be on their way to the pleasure quarter.

Object facts

• Title: New Yoshiwara (Shin Yoshiwara), from the series Famous Places in the Eastern Capital
• Date: early 1830s
• Creator attribution: Utagawa Kuniyoshi (Japanese, 1797–1861)
• Culture: Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
• Type: Print
• Technique: color woodblock print
• Dimensions: Sheet: 24.5 x 36.9 cm (9 5/8 x 14 1/2 in.)
• Collection: Japanese Art
• Department: Japanese Art
• Accession number: 1930.202

Collection credit

Bequest of Edward L. Whittemore

Further reading listed by the museum

• Howard Conley Hollis. "The Edward Loder Whittemore Collection of Japanese Prints." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 17, no. 4 (April 1930): 64–66.

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.