Looking Delicious: Customs and Manners of a Prostitute of the Kaei Era

Artist Tsukioka Yoshitoshi 月岡芳年 (Japanese, 1839–1892)

DateMarch 3, 1888

MediumColor woodblock print with visible woodgrain (kimetsubushi), graduated colors (bokashi), and burnishing (shomenzuri)

DimensionsŌban; 37.1 x 25.4 cm (14 5/8 x 10 in.)

ClassificationsPrints

Credit LineHarriet B. Bancroft Fund

Terms

Object number2003.112

DescriptionLow-ranked prostitute eating ebi tempura (prawns fried in butter) on a moonlit verandah.
Label TextThis particular print demonstrates how foreign fashions and customs that were once novel in Japan became commonplace in the late Edo period. The stripes of this low-ranking courtesan’s kimono are derived from a geometric pattern of South Asian origin, introduced to Japan by the Portuguese in the sixteenth century. Likewise, the Portuguese brought the practice of batter-fried food to Japan, reflected here in the tempura she eats.

On View

Not on view