In a Pleasure House in Shinagawa (Shinagawa no rojo)
n.d.
Medium
Color woodblock prints; two sheets from an oban triptych
Dimensions
Right sheet: 38.4 × 25.2 cm (15 1/8 × 9 15/16 in.); Left sheet: 38.8 × 25.5 cm (15 5/16 × 10 1/16 in.)
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
18962
Art Historical Context
In the vibrant world of Edo-period Japan, Chôbunsai Eishi's *In a Pleasure House in Shinagawa (Shinagawa no)* captures the allure of the "floating world" (ukiyo-e). This exquisite color woodblock print, comprising two sheets from an oban triptych—large-format panels measuring about 38 cm high—likely depicts elegant courtesans and patrons in a Shinagawa pleasure house. Shinagawa, a bustling post station on the Tôkaidô road leading to Edo (modern Tokyo), was renowned for its teahouses and entertainment districts, offering weary travelers respite amid kimono-clad beauties and lantern-lit revelry....
About the Artist
Chôbunsai Eishi · 1756–1829
Chôbunsai Eishi, born Hosoda Tokitomi in 1756 to a prosperous samurai family of the Fujiwara clan in Edo, inherited a substantial stipend of 500 koku of rice annually. His grandfather had served as the shogunate's Treasury Minister, and upon his father Hosoda Tokiyuki's death in 1772, Eishi became family head while holding a position in Shogun Tokugawa Ieharu's palace from 1781. Unusually for a uk...