The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of September 29, 2023

Courtesans Promenading on the Nakanochō

仲之町の花魁道中

c. 1790

Part of a set. See all set records

Utagawa Toyokuni 歌川 豊国

(Japanese, 1769–1825)

Japan, Edo period

(1615–1868)

Triptych of color woodblock prints

Each: 37.8 x 25.8 cm (14 7/8 x 10 3/16 in.)

Bequest of Edward L. Whittemore 1930.211

Location

not on view

Description

Nakanochō was the main street in Yoshiwara, a famous walled pleasure district that housed as many as 4,000 courtesans. In the early evening, elaborately dressed courtesans accompanied by attendants promenaded on the central thoroughfare, as in this scene. The open buildings with shop curtains hanging from their eaves are teahouses, establishments where men could arrange appointments with courtesans of the more prestigious brothels.

Provenance
(Yamanaka & Co., New York, NY)
Hayashi Tadamasa
?–1930
Edward L. Whittemore [1862–1930], Cleveland, OH, bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art
1930–
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
Howard Conley Hollis. "The Edward Loder Whittemore Collection of Japanese Prints." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 17, no. 4 (1930): 64-66. 64-66
Exhibition history

Ukiyo-e: The Floating World Revisited. Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR (October 26–December 30, 1993);The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (February 2–April 3, 1994). cat. II-29

Visions of Japan: Prints and Paintings from Cleveland Collections. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (December 12, 2004–April 10, 2005).

Transformations in Japanese Printmaking. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 25-December 30, 1984).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1930.211