Object Details
- Label
- This print, which is likely to be the center panel of a triptych, depicts four women of the Yoshiwara pleasure quarter of Edo. A young courtesan-in-training, whose dream is shown above, is accompanied by a maid and two child apprentices, who play a game of One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each (Hyakunin isshu). The courtesan dreams of a mouse's wedding, which is the basis for a popular story. Here the mouse is transported in a palanquin, the conveyance reserved for the upper classes of Edo society. This image also recalls the Chinese story of Rosei, a man who dreams of a reversal of his fortunes, but who finds upon awakening that his fate is unchanged. Like Rosei, the courtesan dreams in vain of escaping her life in the brothel, perhaps through marriage to a wealthy patron.
- Collection
- National Museum of Asian Art Collection
- Exhibition History
- Masterful Illusions: Japanese Prints from the Anne van Biema Collection (September 15, 2002 to January 9, 2003)
- Data Source
- Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
- Artist
- Utagawa Toyokuni I 歌川豊国 (1769-1825)
- Date
- early 1790s
- Period
- Edo period
- Credit Line
- The Anne van Biema Collection
- Medium
- Ink and color on paper
- Dimensions
- H x W: 38.5 x 25.2 cm (15 3/16 x 9 15/16 in)
- Type
