Yokohama Artist. All the People in the World Grind Sesame (Yono-naka gomasuri) / Ōban Diptych, c. 1860

Artist: Unknown Yokohama artist (横浜絵師 未詳)

Signed: Unsigned

Publisher: Unknown

Date: c. 1860 (late Edo period)

Media: Horizontal ōban diptych (nishiki-e), ink and color on paper; 362 × 245 + 362 × 255 mm

Title: Yono-naka gomasuri (世の中ごますり — All the People in the World Grind Sesame)

Here we see people from all classes and walks of life surrounding a large bowl, each holding a grinding pestle. Three men in the foreground are arguing rather than working; one has what appears to be a court hat tied to his head. A blind man is present at the far right. An overseer stands grimly at the back, arms folded. A foreigner stands at left, seemingly pointing at a samurai, who frowns back at him.

The Japanese still use the expression “grinding sesame seeds,” which refers to someone offering superficial flattery, not out of sincerity, to gain an advantage. In this case, the flatterer is probably the Westerner in the blue suit.

The print is unsigned, with no publisher’s information or date. The style is vaguely that of the Utagawa School, but since the bakufu was still in power until 1868, no one would have wanted to take credit—or blame—for a work openly critical of society.

Dated to the early 1860s. Edo-period colours are still in use.

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