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Okumura Masanobu: Innovator and Entrepreneur

Large Perspective Picture of a Second-floor Parlor in the New Yoshiwara, Looking Toward the Embankment
Okumura Masanobu (1686–1764)
Large Perspective Picture of a Second-floor Parlor in the New Yoshiwara, Looking Toward the Embankment (Shin Yoshiwara nikai zashiki dote o mitōshi ō-uki-e)
ca. 1745
Woodcut, handcolored
42 x 65.7 cm
The Mann Collection, Highland Park, IL

This handcolored perspective print displays some of the entertainment available at a large Yoshiwara establishment. In an airy upper room, which overlooks the embankment leading down to the enclosure, a chanter is performing to the accompaniment of a shamisen player; a gentleman escorted by a maid approaches them. Another client, stretched out on the floor, is enjoying conversation, sake, and food with two courtesans. Other groups beyond are conversing or playing “double sixes” (sugoroku: a kind of backgammon); at the right, a maid bearing a billet-doux comes up the stairs.

Photo: Michael Tropea, Chicago

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