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The Floating World

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

172 works · hang 4350 ·

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

Walk this roomRehang this room

Section 1, north wall

  1. Chushingura: Act I (from the series Perspective Pictures for The Treasure House of Loyalty), by Kitao Masayoshi, c. 1790s
    Chushingura: Act I (from the series Perspective Pictures for The Treasure House of Loyalty)Kitao Masayoshi, c. 1790sCourtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  2. Kabuki Actors Asao Yūjirō as Sano Genzaemon and Ichikawa Ebijūrō I as Miura Arajirō, in the play Keisei Sano no Funabashi, by Shunkōsai Hokushū, 1822
    Kabuki Actors Asao Yūjirō as Sano Genzaemon and Ichikawa Ebijūrō I as Miura Arajirō, in the play Keisei Sano no FunabashiShunkōsai Hokushū, 1822Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  3. Books and Cards, by Reisai, 18th–19th century
    Books and CardsReisai, 18th–19th centuryCourtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Section 1, 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. The Shika Teahouse, by Utagawa Toyokuni, early 1790s
    The Shika TeahouseUtagawa Toyokuni, early 1790sCourtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  3. 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

Section 2, south wall

  1. A work made of color woodblock print; hosoban.
    Actor Nakamura Nakazô I as Osada no Tarô in The Genji Clan Now at Its Zenith (Ima o sakari suehiro Genji)Katsukawa Shunshō, About 1768Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. Dyers at Work, by Katsushika Hokusai, c. 1800
    Dyers at WorkKatsushika Hokusai, c. 1800Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  3. Evening Snow at Kanbara, from the series "Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō", by Utagawa Hiroshige, ca. 1833–34
    Evening Snow at Kanbara, from the series "Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō"Utagawa Hiroshige, ca. 1833–34Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Section 2, north wall

  1. A work made of page from a color woodblock-printed volume.
    The Poetess Shunzei no Musume, from the series The Thirty-six Immortal Women Poets (Nishikizuri onna sanjurokkasen)Chôbunsai Eishi, Edo period (1615–1868), 1801Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. Perspective Pictures for The Treasure House of Loyalty, by Kitao Masayoshi, c. 1790s
    Perspective Pictures for The Treasure House of LoyaltyKitao Masayoshi, c. 1790sCourtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  3. Girl on Balcony above Stone Stairway, by Suzuki Harunobu, ca. 1768
    Girl on Balcony above Stone StairwaySuzuki Harunobu, ca. 1768Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Section 3, north wall

  1. Under the Wave off Kanagawa (Kanagawa oki nami ura), or The Great Wave, from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei), by Katsushika Hokusai, ca. 1830–32
    Under the Wave off Kanagawa (Kanagawa oki nami ura), or The Great Wave, from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei)Katsushika Hokusai, ca. 1830–32Courtesy of The Metropolitan 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

Section 3, south wall

  1. A work made of color woodblock print.
    Women and Children Viewing the FireworksKatsushika Hokusai, c. 1798Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. Incense Boxes with a Wrapping Cloth, by Kubo Shunman, 1808
    Incense Boxes with a Wrapping ClothKubo Shunman, 1808Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art