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The Floating World

Japanese woodblock prints of the floating world: actors, courtesans, landscapes and the sea.

172 works · hang 2240 ·

The rooms are imagined; every work on their walls is real.

Walk this roomRehang this room

Section 1, north wall

  1. Scene from a Play, by Katsukawa Shunjō, ca. 1780
    Scene from a PlayKatsukawa Shunjō, ca. 1780Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. A work made of hand-colored woodblock print; toku-oban, urushi-e.
    Courtesan Reading a LetterIshikawa Toyonobu, c. 1745Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. A work made of color woodblock print; chuban.
    The Dance of the Shrine Maidens Ohatsu and OnamiSuzuki Harunobu, c. 1769Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Section 1, south wall

  1. A work made of color woodblock print; oban triptych.
    Picture of Men and Women from Many Countries (Bankoku danjo jinbutsu zue)Utagawa Yoshiiku, 1861Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. Sugatano of Sugata Ebisuya in the Morning, Hour of the Rabbit, from the series The Twelve Hours in the Pleasure Quarters, by Kikukawa Eizan, 1812
    Sugatano of Sugata Ebisuya in the Morning, Hour of the Rabbit, from the series The Twelve Hours in the Pleasure QuartersKikukawa Eizan, 1812Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art

Section 2, south wall

  1. A work made of hand-colored woodblock print; vertical oban diptych, sumizuri-e.
    The Actor Onoe Kikugoro I holding a puppet of the Actor Sanogawa Ichimatsu IIshikawa Toyonobu, c. 1740sCourtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. A work made of color woodblock print; shikishiban, surimono.
    Distant View of Mount Fuji at Dawn from HakoneUtagawa Kuniyoshi, c. 1828/30Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. A work made of color woodblock print; uchiwa-e.
    Morning Glories, Pinks, and Maiden Flower, from the series "Seven Autumn Flowers in Moonlight"Utagawa Hiroshige, 1830/44Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Section 2, north wall

  1. Passengers in a Ferry Boat on the Sumida River, by Torii Kiyonaga, 1784
    Passengers in a Ferry Boat on the Sumida RiverTorii Kiyonaga, 1784Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  2. A work made of woodblock print, ink and colors on paper.
    Kanagawa in Musashi Province: Distant View of Yokohama (Yokohama enbo), from the series Calligraphy and Pictures for the Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido (Shoga gojusan eki)Utagawa Yoshimori, 1982Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. A work made of color woodblock print; chuban.
    Giving a Light by the Garyubai Plum TreeSuzuki Harunobu, c. 1767/68Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Section 3, north wall

  1. Foreign Business Establishment in Yokohama (Yokohama ijin shōkan uriba no zu), by Utagawa (Gountei) Sadahide, 9th month, 1861
    Foreign Business Establishment in Yokohama (Yokohama ijin shōkan uriba no zu)Utagawa (Gountei) Sadahide, 9th month, 1861Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. A work made of color woodblock print; ōban.
    Awa Province: Naruto Whirlpools (Awa, Naruto no fūha), from the series Famous Places in the Sixty-Odd Provinces (Rokujūyoshmeisho zue)Utagawa Hiroshige, 1855Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. A work made of color woodblock print with metallic pigments; surimono shikishiban.
    Woman About to Write a PoemYashima Gakutei, c. 1824Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Section 3, south wall

  1. Print showing a string of travelers with horses walking along a narrow hillside path beneath an enormous craggy beige mountain at left and an equally massive and craggy deep-blue mountain at right. A brown snow-covered peak appears between these mountains. A mass of cream-colored clouds and a river with rounded ripples fill the middle plane of the composition.
    The Back of Mount Fuji Seen from Minobu River (Minobugawa Urafuji), from the series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei)Katsushika Hokusai, 1830-33Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. Dutch Woman and Child (Seisha ikoku jinbutsu Oranda fujin aijidō no zu), by Utagawa (Gountei) Sadahide, 1860
    Dutch Woman and Child (Seisha ikoku jinbutsu Oranda fujin aijidō no zu)Utagawa (Gountei) Sadahide, 1860Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art