Cleveland Museum of Art

Courtesan Dreaming of her Childhood

Suzuki Harunobu

Date

c. 1770

Medium

Woodblock print; ink and color on paper

Culture

Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)

Department

Japanese Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This print depicts a courtesan dreaming about the time she was taken from her family to become a courtesan. The man leading the girl by the hand is probably escorting her to the Yoshiwara, the entertainment district in Edo. This format is called a pillar print, or hashira-e (literally, "pillar picture"). It is made by pasting two sheets together vertically to form a long, narrow picture, often hung as a decoration on the narrow support posts of the interior of Japanese houses. Pillar prints, or hashira-e (柱絵), are long and narrow Japanese woodblock prints originally intended to decorate wooden pillars.

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