Details
UTAGAWA YOSHIIKU (1833–1904)
Slender Hips Like WIllows in Snow at the Yanagiya Bathhouse (Kurabe koshi yuki no Yanagiya)
Woodblock prints, triptych, from the series Annual Customs of the Present Day (Imayo nenju gyoji no uchi), signed Ikkeisai Yoshiiku ga, published by Hirookaya Kosuke (Kikujudo), censor sealed Aratame tatsu kyu (Dragon nine)

1458 x 958 in. (37.1 x 24.4 cm.) each approx.

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Lot Essay

Utagawa Yoshiiku, also known as Ochiai Yoshiiku, was a disciple of Utagawa Kuniyoshi I. He was known for his designs for newspapers and genre scenes. This triptych, which was produced on the first year of Meiji (1868), was one of his most influential works. It depicts the scene of a public bathhouse for females in a red light district. Instead of showing the flourish performance scenes or the beauty of prostitutes, Yoshiiku demonstrated the behind scenes, which were rarely seen, in these prints.
On the right panel is the entrance where the women pay for the admission, then they walks to the bluish-green boards to take off their clothes. Most women look to the left panel, where two women appear to be fighting. On top of them is a painting of Kume no sennin, whose jumping gesture suggest the entrance point of the bathes. Public bathhouse gathered so many people in 19th century Japan that the wall is filled with advertising posters.
Same triptych could be found in the collection of Museum of Fine Art Boston and Ota Memorial Museum of art.

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