Utagawa Hiroshige. Moon, from the series ‘Famous views of Edo’ / Fan print, 1849-51.

Title (as per Okuda Atsuko, 2010): 江戸名所 月 Moon, from the series Famous Places of Edo

Artist: Utagawa Hiroshige [歌川 広重] a.k.a. Andō Hiroshige [安藤 広重] (Japanese, 1797 – 1858).

Signed: Hiroshige ga [広重 画] in a red rectangular cartouche.

Publisher: Ibaya Senzaburō [伊場屋仙三郎] (Japanese, fl. c. 1815 – 1869); seal: san (三) in a circle

Censor seal: Fuku (福) & Muramatsu (村松), 1849-51

Media: Fan print (Uchiwa-e, 団扇絵), color woodblock print, 212 × 284 mm

Series: Famous Views of Edo (江戸名所, Edo meisho)

Title: Moon (月, Getsu)

Provenance: René Scholten (Dutch, 1943 – 2001)

Reference:

• [LIB-3426.2025] Christophe Marquet. Hiroshige: Les éventails d’Edo / Estampes de la collection Georges Leskowicz. — Paris: In fine, 2022; p. 76, pl. 22.

This second print in the trilogy Famous Sites of Edo (Edo meisho), titled Moon (Getsu), depicts the first floor of a courtesan’s house on a beautiful autumn night during the full moon.

The fifteenth night of the eighth month—called mid-autumn (chūshū, 仲秋)—was widely appreciated for admiring the beauty of the moon. In his Illustrated Almanac of the Green-Houses (Seirō ehon nenjū gyōji, 青楼絵本年中行事), the writer Jippensha Ikku (十返舎一九, 1765–1831) noted that “in the courtesans’ houses, they composed Chinese poems and Japanese verses, enjoying a banquet throughout the night in refined company.” On this occasion, courtesans who joined such gatherings would receive an extra fee.

Hiroshige shows two courtesans, one holding a shamisen, the other a long pipe (kiseru), as they prepare to enter the banquet room, where another woman is already seated.

• [LIB-3465.2025] Okuda Atsuko. Hiroshige’s Fan Prints: Unknown Ukiyo-e (Hiroshige no uchiwa-e, 広重の団扇絵 知られざる浮世絵). — Kyoto: Unsōdō, 2010.

11｜江戸名所 月 Moon, from the series Famous Places of Edo. In Yoshiwara, in addition to seasonal festivals, the full moon night of the 15th day of the 8th lunar month and the moon-viewing night of the 13th day of the 9th lunar month in the old calendar were also designated as nyūbi (special visiting days). On such days, courtesans were required to entertain guests, and clients paid special age-dai (fees for spending time with a courtesan). These occasions were bustling with activity. In the viewing rooms bathed in serene moonlight, the mood of the courtesans and entertainers alike was one of excitement and uplifted spirits.

Bibliography

• Matsuki, Bunkyo (松木文恭). Catalogue of Japanese Prints, 1924, no. 83 (former collection of Nakamura Tatsujirō).
• Hosaka, Kazuhiko (保坂一彦). 江戸の花 浮世絵展 (Ukiyo-e Geijutsu), no. 80, 1967.
• Sugimoto, Jun. Catalogue of Japanese Prints, 1998, no. 281 (National Museum, Kraków).
• Tanba, Norio (丹波則雄). Hiroshige: Edo no Meisho, 1965, no. 42.
• Tanba, Norio. Hiroshige Fan Prints, 2004, no. 10: Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Cultural History.
• Okuda Atsuko 2010: № 11, catalogue raisonné № 17: Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Cultural History