Minneapolis Institute of Art

Masako from Mino Province

Kitagawa Utamaro; Publisher: Murataya Jirōbei

Date: c. 1804
Medium: Woodblock print (nishiki-e), ink and color on paper
Department: Asian Art
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Art

Executed in the rare, long format ( nagaban ), this print depicts a prostitute and her attendant playing with a child who could be hers from a previous love affair. The poem reads: I rub evening primrose flower on the cloth of the man I love, hoping the scent of the flower will remind him of me The name of the prostitute is inscribed on the print as “Masako from Mino Province, ” which we can use to identify Yabe Masako, who died at age twenty-nine in 1773. Japan, Asia

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