Title

Ichikawa of the Matsubaya, 1790-1800. Creator: Kitagawa Utamaro.

Caption

Ichikawa of the Matsubaya, 1790-1800. The oiran, or high-ranking yüjo ‘woman of pleasure’ Ichikawa, who worked in the Matsuba house in the Edomachi Itchome district of the Yoshiwara. She is pictured here in the loose, flowing garments and informal front - tyingobi (sash), fashionable with yüjo of the time. She holds a brass pipe in her right hand and sits with a lacquer box of smoking utensils. The koi (carp) leaping upwards through a waterfall on her gorgeous uchikake (over-kimono) was associated with perseverance, and with love. The first quality is suggested in Ichikawa’s tired, poignant pose and expression, reflecting her resignation to the harsh indenture of the quarters. The latter reference is more ironic, as there was little true love to be found in brothel engagements.

Credit line

Photo12/Heritage Images/Heritage Art

Reference

HRM24A24_330

Model release

NA

Property release

NA

License type

Rights managed

Available size

110,1Mb (5,8Mb) / 17,1in x 25,0in / 5122 x 7514 (300dpi)

Keywords

portrait building female women woman people black looking work job red fish Asian Asia family arts pipe worker country detail art box costume occupation continent clothes museum color fishes Japan Japanese smoking dress traditional costume kimono boxes location century profession clothing print red light district concept details printing APPAREL full length one person full-length looking away clan oban Koi Carp Colour aquatic life inset description lacquer indenture tobacco pipe 18th century Edo Eighteenth Century woodblock printing workers brothel courtesan Edo period hair ornament lacquered TGN traditional dress Ukiyo-e woodblock print indentured worker Yoshiwara portrait woodcut young women young woman Kitagawa Utamaro Utamaro 1790s Utamaro Kitagawa WOODBLOCK black colour Utamaro Kitagawa Tokugawa period Heritage Art Block printing smoking equipment Matsubaya clothing & dress fashion & clothing Ichikawa kanzashi Japanese era Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa oban woodblock print