Yosooi: Courtesans on a balcony watching a street juggler. From the series Meigi sanjurokasen' (F...

Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865), also known as Toyokuni III, was the most popular and prolific designer of <em>ukiyo-e</em> in 19th century Japan. He is estimated to have produced between 20,000 and 25,000 designs for woodblock prints during his lifetime. His reputation was clinched when he was in his early twenties; it was as great as that of his teacher Toyokuni I, and lifelong. His status was largely unchallenged in his lifetime, though it was long unfairly neglected because of cyclical attitudes to Japanese prints. Frank Whitford recognised this early on: ‘Perhaps because of his huge output… Kunisada has not been treated well by the historians of <em>ukiyo-e</em>, although much of his work… reached the highest standards.’ His reputation was rescued considerably later than those of Hiroshige and Kuniyoshi, really only dating from the 1990s through the scholarship of Jan van Doesburg and Sebastian Izzard. Kunisada showed the versatility typical of print designers; while best known for his depictions of kabuki and his <em>yakusha-e</em> actor prints, he was also a specialist in <em>bijin-ga</em> (beautiful women pictures), illustrations from <em>The Tales of Genji</em> and more luxurious <em>surimono</em> prints.

This print comes from a charming series by Kunisada (more properly Toyokuni III at the time it was made, towards the end of his lengthy career), depicting famous geisha and courtesans paired with verses by Japan's famous Thirty-six Poets in a kind of parody.  Each image features elegant beauties in a scene from daily life, with a poem enclosed in a title cartouche along with different decorative elements, which we see in the upper right.  Here two fetching courtesans and their attendant, all on a balcony, are watching a street juggler below, who is denoted with delightfully Japanese economy by a few aerial balls and some of his equipment. One of the courtesans is the celebrated Yosooi of the house of house of Matsubaya – hence the title. She is often pictured with her companion Yoyotoshi, as probably applies here.

Sources:

David Bell and Mark Stocker, 'Rising sun at Te Papa: the Heriot collection of Japanese art', <em>Tuhinga</em>, 29 (2018), pp. 50-76.

Fuji Arts, https://www.fujiarts.com/cgi-bin/item.pl?item=770736

Frank Whitford, <em>Japanese Prints and Western Painters</em> (London, 1977).

Dr Mark Stocker   Curator, Historical International Art   May 2019