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The Floating World

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

172 works · hang 596 ·

The rooms are imagined; every work on their walls is real.

Walk this roomRehang this room

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. 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
  3. Ichikawa Ebizo IV in the role of Takemura Sadanoshin, by Tōshūsai Sharaku, Probably late 1880s or early 1890s
    Ichikawa Ebizo IV in the role of Takemura SadanoshinTōshūsai Sharaku, Probably late 1880s or early 1890sCourtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Section 1, south wall

  1. 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
  2. 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
  3. Tobacco Pouch and Pipe, by Kubo Shunman, 1813
    Tobacco Pouch and PipeKubo Shunman, 1813Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Section 2, south wall

  1. “Hour of the Rat: Mistress,” from the series Women’s Daily Customs (Fuzoku bijin tokei), by Kitagawa Utamaro, 1790
    “Hour of the Rat: Mistress,” from the series Women’s Daily Customs (Fuzoku bijin tokei)Kitagawa Utamaro, 1790Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. A work made of color woodblock print; oban.
    Osumi, a Tayu of the Tsuchiya in the Shinmachi Quarter in OsakaEishosai Choki, c. 1796/97Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. Passengers in a Ferry Boat on the Sumida River, by Torii Kiyonaga, 1784
    Passengers in a Ferry Boat on the Sumida RiverTorii Kiyonaga, 1784Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art

Section 2, north wall

  1. Matsumoto Koshiro IV as the Fish Peddler Gorobei, by Tōshūsai Sharaku, Probably late 1880s or early 1890s
    Matsumoto Koshiro IV as the Fish Peddler GorobeiTōshūsai Sharaku, Probably late 1880s or early 1890sCourtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. A work made of color woodblock print.
    Tsuten-kyo Bridge, Tofuku Temple, Kyoto (Kyoto Tofukuji Tsutenkyo bashi) from the series “One Hundred Famous Views in the Various Provinces (Shokoku meisho hyakkei)”Utagawa Hiroshige II, 1859Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. Scene of Foxfire (Kitsunebi) from the Play Honchō nijūshikō, by Yōshū (Hashimoto) Chikanobu, 1898
    Scene of Foxfire (Kitsunebi) from the Play Honchō nijūshikōYōshū (Hashimoto) Chikanobu, 1898Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Section 3, north wall

  1. A work made of color woodblock print; uchiwa-e.
    Morning Glories, Pinks, and Maiden Flower, from the series "Seven Autumn Flowers in Moonlight"Utagawa Hiroshige, 1830/44Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. Vehicles on the Streets of Tokyo, by Utagawa Yoshitora, 1870
    Vehicles on the Streets of TokyoUtagawa Yoshitora, 1870Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Section 3, south wall

  1. A work made of color woodblock print; oban.
    The actor Ichikawa Omezo as the manservant IppeiTōshūsai Sharaku, 1794Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. France (furansukoku), by Utagawa Yoshitora, 2nd month, 1865
    France (furansukoku)Utagawa Yoshitora, 2nd month, 1865Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art