Net Fishing at Night on the Sumida River

c. 1800

Kitagawa Utamaro 喜多川歌麿

(Japanese, c. 1754–1806)

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Culture

Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)

Medium

Triptych of color woodblock prints

Measurements

Overall: 38.6 x 25.4 cm (15 3/16 x 10 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Wade 1916.1116

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Location

Not on view

Description

In this triptych (a composition of three prints), a nighttime drinking party on a pleasure boat is interrupted by an encounter with a fishing boat on the Sumida River in Edo (now Tokyo). A young man in a bold, checked robe distributes lacquer dishes of sake to his female companions, while another man sits on the boat’s roof, peering at the fisherman’s net. The fisherman struggles to control the net as a woman in the party boat offers her sake dish, her robe pulled open at the neck to enjoy the evening cool.