Cleveland Museum of Art
Courtesans Promenading on the Nakanochō
Utagawa ToyokuniLinkedCulture matchlcp-7fb54014fdbe
- Date
- c. 1790
- Medium
- One of a triptych of color woodblock prints
- Culture
- Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
- Department
- Japanese Art
- Institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Object ID
- 111682
Nakanochō was the main street in Yoshiwara, a famous walled pleasure district that housed as many as 4,000 courtesans. In the early evening, elaborately dressed courtesans accompanied by attendants promenaded on the central thoroughfare, as in this scene. The open buildings with shop curtains hanging from their eaves are teahouses, establishments where men could arrange appointments with courtesans of the more prestigious brothels.
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Provenance & credit
As published by the source institution. Coverage varies — not every institution's open-data feed includes ownership history.
- Credit line
- Bequest of Edward L. Whittemore
- Provenance
- Hayashi Tadamasa | (Yamanaka & Co., New York, NY) | ?–1930: Edward L. Whittemore [1862–1930], Cleveland, OH, bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art | 1930–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
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