The Floating World






Works in this room
Japanese woodblock prints of the floating world: actors, courtesans, landscapes and the sea.
Section 1, north wall

A Spring OutingSuzuki Harunobu, c. 1768Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago 
Women Beside a Stream Chasing FirefliesChôbunsai Eishi, c. 1796–97Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art 
Xu You and Chao FuOkumura Masanobu, 18th centuryCourtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Section 1, south wall

Under the Wave off Kanagawa (Kanagawa oki nami ura), also known as The Great Wave, from the series "Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjurokkei)"Katsushika Hokusai, 1830/33Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago 
Kabuki Actors Asao Yūjirō as Sano Genzaemon and Ichikawa Ebijūrō I as Miura Arajirō, in the play Keisei Sano no FunabashiShunkōsai Hokushū, 1822Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art 
Iwai Kumesaburo II as the Courtesan Takao in Banzei Okuni KabukiUtagawa Kunisada, c. 1827Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
Section 2, south wall

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 
Perspective Pictures for The Treasure House of LoyaltyKitao Masayoshi, c. 1790sCourtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
Section 2, north wall

Morning Cherries at YoshiwaraUtagawa HiroshigeCourtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art 
Foreigners in the Drawing Room of Foreign Merchant's House in YokohamaUtagawa (Gountei) Sadahide, 9th month, 1861Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art 
The Ninth Month, from the series Five Amorous Festivals of Love (Aibore iro no gosekku)Kitagawa Utamaro, 1801Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
Section 3, north wall

Searching for FirefliesSuzuki Harunobu, 1768Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago 
“Hanamurasaki of the Tamaya,” from the series Seven Komachi of the Pleasure Quarters (Seirō Nana Komachi)Kitagawa Utamaro, ca. 1790Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art 
Danjūrō VII's Benkei as Fudō MyōōUtagawa Kunisada, ca. 1824Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Section 3, south wall

Lake Suwa in Shinano Province (Shinshu Suwako), from the series "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjurokkei)"Katsushika Hokusai, c. 1830/33Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago 
A View of the Large New Room at SakuraiUtagawa Kunisada, early or mid 1830sCourtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art