Spring Outing to Mukojima
c. 1787
Medium
Color woodblock print; right sheet of oban triptych
Dimensions
39 × 25.8 cm (15 3/8 × 10 3/16 in.)
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
22709
Art Historical Context
Torii Kiyonaga's *Spring Outing to Mukima* (c. 1787) captures the vibrant spirit of Edo-period Japan (modern Tokyo) through a color woodblock print—the right panel of an impressive oban triptych, measuring 39 × 25.8 cm. As a master of ukiyo-e, the "pictures of the floating world Kiyonaga specialized in bijin-ga (images of beautiful women) and lively genre scenes. Here, elegant courtesans and revelers stroll amid blooming cherry trees on Mukojima, a famed spot for hanami—Japan's cherished spring cherry-blossom viewing parties—evoking the era's fleeting pleasures and urban sophistication. This ...
About the Artist
Torii Kiyonaga · 1752–1815
Torii Kiyonaga, born Sekiguchi Shinsuke in 1752 in Uraga, Sagami Province, was the son of an Edo bookseller who owned tenements near a bustling fish market. At age 14 in 1765, he began his apprenticeship under Torii Kiyomitsu, the third-generation head of the prestigious Torii school of ukiyo-e, renowned for kabuki theater illustrations and signage. Adopted into the Torii family, Kiyonaga succeede...