The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of October 8, 2026

A horizontally oriented ink and color painting on silk depicts five adults and a child with light skin tones beneath flowering trees. In the foreground, a man holds a pipe while four women wear patterned traditional clothing. In the background, wooden sailing vessels crowd a body of water along a shore with gray-roofed houses. The scene is rendered in muted earthy tones and soft pinks beneath a pale sky.

Viewing Cherry Blossoms at Gotenyama

late 1700s–early 1800s

Utagawa Toyokuni

(Japanese, 1769–1825)
Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
Hanging scroll; ink, color, and gold on silk
Painting: 56.6 x 87.7 cm (22 5/16 x 34 1/2 in.); Mounted: 159.4 x 89.9 cm (62 3/4 x 35 3/8 in.)
The Kelvin Smith Collection, given by Ellen and Bruce Mavec 2026.46
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Tobacco was introduced to Japan by Portuguese traders around the 1550s.

Description

A scene of cherry blossom viewing at Gotenyama (Palace Hill) in the city of Edo (now Tokyo), features five adults and a child at the top of the hill. At the center of the action, a courtesan lights her pipe from that of a fashionably dressed young man of samurai status, and smoke billows up to the sky.
  • A. Kelvin Smith [1899–1984] and Eleanor [Armstrong] Smith [1899–1998], Cleveland, OH, by descent to their daughter Cara Smith Stirn
    Cara Smith Stirn [1927–2017], Cleveland, OH, by descent to her daughter Ellen Stirn Mavec
    Ellen Stirn Mavec [b. 1959]
  • {{cite web|title=Viewing Cherry Blossoms at Gotenyama|url=false|author=Utagawa Toyokuni|year=late 1700s–early 1800s|access-date=08 October 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2026.46