Floor plan

North wing: East AsiaThe Floating World

The Floating World

A work made of color woodblock print; chuban.
A work made of color woodblock print; oban.
A work made of color woodblock print; chuban.
A work made of hand-colored woodblock print; vertical oban diptych, sumizuri-e.
Nissaka: The Night-Weeping Stone at Sayo no Nakayama, from the series The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō, by Utagawa Hiroshige, c. 1848–50
Jihei of Kamiya Eloping with the Geisha Koharu of Kinokuniya, from the series “True Feelings Compared: The Founts of Love” (Jitsu kurabe iro no Minakami), by Kitagawa Utamaro, ca. 1798–99

The works in this room are listed below.

Works in this room

Japanese woodblock prints of the floating world: actors, courtesans, landscapes and the sea.

Section 1, north wall

  1. A work made of color woodblock print; chuban.
    A Spring OutingSuzuki Harunobu, c. 1768Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. A work made of color woodblock print; oban.
    The Ninth Month, from the series Five Amorous Festivals of Love (Aibore iro no gosekku)Kitagawa Utamaro, 1801Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. A work made of color woodblock print; chuban.
    Giving a Light by the Garyubai Plum TreeSuzuki Harunobu, c. 1767/68Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Section 1, south wall

  1. A work made of hand-colored woodblock print; vertical oban diptych, sumizuri-e.
    The Actor Onoe Kikugoro I holding a puppet of the Actor Sanogawa Ichimatsu IIshikawa Toyonobu, c. 1740sCourtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. Nissaka: The Night-Weeping Stone at Sayo no Nakayama, from the series The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō, by Utagawa Hiroshige, c. 1848–50
    Nissaka: The Night-Weeping Stone at Sayo no Nakayama, from the series The Fifty-Three Stations of the TōkaidōUtagawa Hiroshige, c. 1848–50Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  3. Jihei of Kamiya Eloping with the Geisha Koharu of Kinokuniya, from the series “True Feelings Compared: The Founts of Love” (Jitsu kurabe iro no Minakami), by Kitagawa Utamaro, ca. 1798–99
    Jihei of Kamiya Eloping with the Geisha Koharu of Kinokuniya, from the series “True Feelings Compared: The Founts of Love” (Jitsu kurabe iro no Minakami)Kitagawa Utamaro, ca. 1798–99Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Section 2, south wall

  1. A work made of color woodblock print; chuban.
    Delaying the announcement of dawnSuzuki Harunobu, c. 1767/68Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. A work made of color woodblock print; oban.
    In The Mood for a Walk (Yuho ga shitaso), from the series "Thirty-two Aspects of Women (Fuzoku sanjuniso)"Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, 1888Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. A work made of color woodblock print; oban.
    Courting Komachi (Kayoi Komachi), from the series Seven Fashionable Figures of Ono no Komachi (Furyu nana Komachi yatushi sugata-e)Utagawa Toyokuni, Edo period (1615–1868), about 1792Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Section 2, north wall

  1. A work made of color woodblock print; oban.
    Sazai Hall at the Temple of the Five Hundred Arhats (Gohyakurakanji Sazaido), from the series "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjurokkei)"Katsushika Hokusai, c. 1830/33Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. A work made of color woodblock print; oban.
    The actor Osagawa Tsuneyo II as Osan, Ippei’s elder sisterTōshūsai Sharaku, 1794Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. A work made of woodblock print; sumizuri-e, kakemono-e.
    Standing BeautyKaigetsudo Anchi, About 1714Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Section 3, north wall

  1. Bandō Mitsugorō III as Daihanji Kiyozumi and Arashi Koroku IV as Koganosuke, by Shunkōsai Hokushū, 1821
    Bandō Mitsugorō III as Daihanji Kiyozumi and Arashi Koroku IV as KoganosukeShunkōsai Hokushū, 1821Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. Print showing a string of travelers with horses walking along a narrow hillside path beneath an enormous craggy beige mountain at left and an equally massive and craggy deep-blue mountain at right. A brown snow-covered peak appears between these mountains. A mass of cream-colored clouds and a river with rounded ripples fill the middle plane of the composition.
    The Back of Mount Fuji Seen from Minobu River (Minobugawa Urafuji), from the series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei)Katsushika Hokusai, 1830-33Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Section 3, south wall

  1. Foreign Family with Wife Making Clothes (Gaikokujin ifuku shitate no zu), by Utagawa Yoshikazu, 1860
    Foreign Family with Wife Making Clothes (Gaikokujin ifuku shitate no zu)Utagawa Yoshikazu, 1860Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. Cherry Blossoms in the Wind, by Utagawa Toyokuni, late 1790s
    Cherry Blossoms in the WindUtagawa Toyokuni, late 1790sCourtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art