Research Log - Iona Cameron

Research Log by Iona Cameron

琴 'Koto' From the Series

Fûryû kinkishoga 'The Fashionable Four Accomplishments'

Toshinobu Kikugawa Eizan (1787–1867)

Contents Historical context Initial meeting with Rachel Why am I interested in this area?

Research proposal Photographing my object Translation of my object Meeting Gillian Email correspondence with Gillian Meeting Dr. Parton Email exchanges with museums in the Netherlands, the UK and Japan Email exchanges with the Ukiyo-e museum in Japan Information from Azusa Gomi on the series Independent research and reading Victoria & Albert Museum, London Problems for historians studying the Yoshiwara Further Independent research and reading Introduction to the Oiran The production of woodblock prints Research Questions Censorship The Four Accomplishments Notes from C. Seigle’s book ‘Yoshiwara’ Questioning the date of the object?

Rationale for the form and content of the podcast Conclusions and answers established by my research Bibliography Podcast drafts Final Reflection

Welcome to my research log! The answers to the following points can be found integrated into the all the pages of this log: 1) record of research questions 2) record of research interventions 3) possible answers established by your research 4) rationale for the form and content of your podcast 5) reflective analysis 6) bibliography / sources

The arrival of woodblock printing in the 7th century

txetnoc lacirotsiH

Civil War and the rise of the Shoguns

16th Century and arrival of the Europeans

1600, Tokugawa Ieyasu reunites the country

THe GRowth of the Capital City, Edo

Yoshiwara and emergence of Shin Bijin Genre

Initial meeting with Rachel

Introduction/early years Woodblock printing arrives in japan with Buddism around the 7th century.

With it comes woodblock printing. It is used for centuries, mainly for printing scriptures. Art is Japan, during the early centuries, is very much about painting, handscrolls and other forms of high-ends art, all about the court and v prestigious.

Civil war.

Japan goes through cycles of civil war, difficult country to govern - why? Very mountainous, lots of Islands, fragments very easily. So… they go through lots of cycles of civil wars, hence the importance of the samurai and the growth of a large warrior class.

So you get the rise of the Shoguns and the rise of a warrior class. The Emperor becomes a figurehead while the Shoguns are really in charge.

16th century Century of colossal civil war. Into which walk the Europeans. The Europeans are interested in porcelan and bring with them, Christianity and guns, both of which have a negative effect on the civil war.This all culminates after 1600 where a warrior called Tokugawa ieyasu finally manages to reunite the country. He becomes the shogun and assumes military rule.

Puts in a number of measures to ensure peace: - Chuck the Europeans out, closing Japan off from European influence - They keep trading with China and Korea, and allow the Dutch to stay in Nagasaki - Bans Christianity They start to look inwards

He also decides how he is going to control all of these regional Lords with all of their Samurai • Builds new capital city at Edo… up until then it was a tiny fishing village on the east coast and within 100 years is the largest city in the world • by 1790s, more than 1m people living there. (becomes tokyo) HUGE. • He builds his palace in Edo and tells all regional lords they also have a residence in Edo, and that is where their wife and children will live.

They can govern in their regions… they must spend 1 year in the region, 1 year in Edo… this is known as 'alternate attendance' • So they only get to see their wives and children every other year and the idea is that you are not going to invade the capital and start a civil war if you wife and children are there Works very well! If they spend part of the time in city, they aren't in the regions planning an insurrection So where does prostitution come into this?

• So at any one time, half of the regional Lords are in Edo, and usually with an enormous entourage.

(Because Japan is all about showing off etc) = huge number of single men in Edo. This is where Prostitution comes in. At any one time, you have a vast quantity of young, fit, military men in Edo. At the same time, there is lots of building work, massive expansion, merchants...building a new capital city!

• Edo becomes a massively skewed city, where there are way more men than women, esp. in early 1600s and 17th century. Unsurprisingly, this gives rise to a lot of prostitution

Yoshiwara •An enterprising Brothel owner suggested to the Shogun that the way to control prostitution is to create a licensed district. So they set up this licensed district, the Yoshiwara. i.e. licensed prostitute district • After it gets burnt down (there are always fires in Edo) the Shogun, to try and curb the popularity of Yoshiwara, decides to move it. So they move it up the river, out of town, to make it more difficult to get to. But this simply starts a new trade in people travelling up the river, part of the joy is getting a boat trip before you go Yoshiwara grows into this incredible district. Completely enclosed district where you get all of the tea rooms. This is where you get the high-end courtesants. Yoshiwara is almost its own enclosed little world Japan is a very hierarchical society… you have the Emperor & court on top, then Samurai, Farmers, craftsmen then merchants All of this brings about 250 years of peace, unprecedented in Japanese history In this time of peace, you get a period of lots of extra cultural production, increase in wealth, increase in literacy, flourishing in the arts. There is lots of people with extra time and money to spend in Yoshiwara. Yoshiwara becomes this very grand place

Continued...

Tea room Etiquette

But one of the things about it is that you leave your swords at the entrance… so when you get in there, no one has any idea whether you are Samurai or Merchant or anything in-between. It becomes quite classless. For the Merchants… there is the issue of how to behave. Tea room etiquette is very prescribed.

You have these beautiful women in these tea houses, but just being able to talk to one of these women in the tea houses is a long and complicated process. You need to have lots of money, drink tea, then you get to be introduced. It is not just a matter of turning up and flashing your money. It can take a long time and a lot of conversation. It is a very interesting, ritualised process. Areas like the Yoshiwara… there is a lot more sitting around, chatting, writing poetry than there is anything else.

Geisha …. Very specialised form of prostitution. Edo courtesans are similar to that . SO… Merchants want to get into these teahouses, but they need to know how to behave. Teahouses create guides to behave in the Yoshiwara are created. Woodblock printed books which are sponsored by the teahouses and sold to wealthy merchants which explain how to behave. Some of the earliest greats in world of woodblock arts work on these things.

These women are also the pin-ups of their day. The teahouses dress them up in the latest fashions, most beautiful clothing, they are the most beautiful women … so a whole genre of art pops up in Japan called Shin Bijin. Almost the origins of advertising/the poster girl

'Tea room etiquette is very prescribed.'

Continued...

Shin Bijin

i.e Pictures of beautiful women.

They are 99% of the time courtesans.

The teahouses are very involved So you get these fantastic beautiful women and various versions of those Pictures of women in their fashionable kimmonos. These become a popular subject for woodblock print artists.

Because they are the pin-ups of their day. If you cant afford to meet these women, you can buy a picture of them.

These pictures get bought by men, who are fans of these women. They also get bought by women who enjoy the fashion. Courtesans are icons of fashions.

Tea houses support the production of these, to promote the most beautiful women and obviously artists like to hang out in pleasure districts, and they become a favourite motif . Later on, the government try to ban images of these women, but artists find a way around it ... Eg in theory, it is a picture of the four seasons, but in reality, it is an image from one of the pleasure districts

Harinobu - is the artist who perfects full colour printing, The earliest prints tend to be just black and white. Then slightly later, introduce 1 colour. Or you get some which are hand painted. It is Harinobu who perfects full colour printing.

Which involves having a series of woodblocks, and it is all about how you slot the blocks together, because each colour has to be added with a different block. He also likes to work in different formats, for example, as a pillar print Early form of mass-produced art The advantage of woodblock prints, is that once you develop one set of woodblocks, you can produce 100s of sets of prints.So quite quickly, they become cheap and really become one of the earliest forms of mass-produced art. Far more people can have a woodblock print than can have a hand scroll, hanging scrolls etc. or other traditional forms of art. Woodblock prints take the hanging scroll format and make it long and thin and the idea is that you can paste them to the pillar of your houses How can you tell she is a courtesan?

She has bare feet. They always have bare feet . Often, they will also have their kimono tied at the front. The bow at the belt, the Obi, is at the front.

Another thing… these fantastic layers of kimono, showing you that they are wearing the most elaborate and expensive form of kimmono Layers of anything in Japan are considered to be extravagant and wonderful

A whole other genre… the Shunga Like Japanese porn…

Shunga is moving beyond the courtesan picture but it is often courtesans who feature in these pictures. These women feature in all of these images… loads of them on the database

How to choose an object?

Key words to look at in the database:

COURTESAN BIJINGA KIMMONO PRODUCTION PLACE = JAPAN Other starting points: Metropolitan museum website good starting point Boston museum of fine arts woodblock print collection VandA also good resources online relating to Japanese art including a reading list

Why am i interested in this area?

The reason I chose this object was because of its subject matter. I have a fascination with visual representations of fallen women and courtesans. My dissertation was on the topic of visual representations of prostitution in 19th century Paris, and I am fascinated how pieces such as Manet’s Olympia or Picasso’s twisted Demoiselles d’Avignon had the power to provoke such powerful responses and in themselves shape reality. More recently, I’ve been looking into representations of high-end courtesans such as Victorine-Louise Meurent, Suzanne Valadon and Valtesse de La Bigne, this led to me think about representations of courtesans in other societies and at different points in time. After learning about Shunga prints in the Belle Époque module last year, I realised Japanese woodblock prints would be an excellent place to discover more about visual representations of courtesans. I met with Rachel Barclay and soon realised Japanese representations of courtesans was an area I was very interested in, particularly because they highlighted how representations of courtesans vary considerably in different cultures and periods. Japanese woodblock prints depicting courtesans provide a stark contrast to their Parisian counterparts. I spent the afternoon searching keywords in the database such as ‘courtesan’, ‘bijinga’ and ‘kimmono,’ and setting the production place to ‘Japan,’ and soon identified Eizan’s print of the courtesan Hanaogi of the Ogiya.

Research proposal

Koto 箏 (music) from the series 'the fashionable four accomplishments'

By Kikugawa Eizan (1787-1867)

translation ⾵流(furyu) means fashionable琴碁(kinki) means leisure/games enjoyed by upper class people - ie koto (Japanese string instrument), go (Chinese Othello game) 書画 (shoga) means Japanese traditional drawing/painting So it means “drawing of high society living of the time?”

Large black character to the left of top right writing 琴 (koto) - Japanese string instrument top left 扇屋内 (Ohgiya nai) means “inside of (nai)” Ohgiya (the name of the brothel) 花扇 (Hana-Ohgi) means courtesan So it means “Courtesan of Ohgiya brothel” Bottom writing 菊川英⼭ (Kikukawa Eizan) He is a famous ukiyoe artist painted between 1813∼17 (late Edo period)

I asked my friend Riki and his mum, who both speak fluent Japanese, to help me translate some of the text on the piece. This was an extremely useful exercise as it firstly, confirmed some of the information the Oriental Museum has already obtained and secondly, taught me some new things about the print I did not already know, especially that it came from a series: The Fashionable Four Accomplishments.

meeting gillian After choosing the object

When was it purchased by the museum?

Purchased from Vaughan-Hughes in the 1960s but we have no information on the person himself, only that the museum purchased 116 items off him. These were mainly hiroshiga prints, and overall, purchased a big range of things from him.

Information Gillian knows about it Importantly, this is an Oiran rather than a Geisha. Oiran are the very first female courtesans. They were at the very beginning of the Edo period. How can we tell? Very elaborate headdresses. The Oiran were the height of courtesan culture. The geisha come out as the almost backing musicians to the Oiran.

Probably 1 of a set of 4. can research the artist and see if he has done others which represent other courtesans

Ideas to think about: Could think about the different grading of prostitutes? Why did these prints go out of fashion? - because Japan opens up. By the end of the edo period, they start to use brighter colours, influenced by western artists and pick up western styles and landscape design.

Chikonobu - look into this artist. Museum also has others which are very similar.

Japanese culture Prostitution wasn't much of a taboo.

Nudity also wasn't a taboo. The concept of being naked with men and women you didn't know wasn't an issue. These samarai men would be meeting these women. Only when the merchant class is cracked down on.

Can talk about prostitution aspect, discussing the shift from very high class oiran, geisha to the oiro.

And also rise of the merchant class Over time the Oiran become more and and collapse of the samurai: Japan more fomalised and elaborate. They are opens up and becomes more too expensive. As the samarai lose their standing and their money, they arent very Westernised which results in the end of this culture . End of ww2, this show of approachable. Rising merchant class excess, as in the object, is almost saw the geisha as more of their type frowned upon. It all ends.

Is there extensive info?

Pretty much standard . For things that came in in the 60s, they were lax about recording information . Opened in 1962 Would be good to do a comparison with the lady I saw?

Could also contrast with bright chikonobou ladies as a comparison. e.g.

DUROM. 1995.TEM OR Beauty in the snow - DUROM.2002.16.47 - Shes not wearing socks or shoes. She is barefoot.

The indicates she is a courtesan.

Chikonobou - shows a japanese woman in western dress.

Email correspondence with gillianÂ

Meeting Dr. Parton

Advice for Presentation:

1. Nice pace of delivery - keep it slow and clear 2. Introduce your object, tell us the basics about it and contextualize it 3. Then, tease out one theme and interests you and go from that Some themes to explore...

- The role of the Oiran in Japanese society in the early 19th century - The role of music - The meaning of the Four accomplishments

Most important discovery after the meeting....

After discussing my object with Dr. Parton, we concluded that this piece was actually part of a set of 4 - the Four Accomplishments. I decided that as part of my research, I was going to track down the other 3 prints in the collection.

The genre is interesting because on one hand it is Geisha, but on the other there, is a subgenre of the 'Four Accomplishments'. Utamaro has also done a series of the 'Four Accomplishments' Utamaro has also done a series on this… if you go onto the samurai archives… you see 'The Four Accomplishments were the four pursuits, or arts, in which a Confucian gentleman was expected to be accomplished, in order to be cultured, and refined.' So this is interesting… it comes out of confucianism. Confucianism was one of the 3 great religions of china that got exported to Japan along with Buddhism and Taoism. So… the 4 accomplishments are nothing to do with Buddhism or Taoism, they are to do with Confucianism. Interestingly, Confucianism aims at refining the personality. It is about learning how to be and behave in a civilised way. It is about acquiring culture and learning. So you might want to have a quick dip into Confucianism and Confucian thought.

Continued... 琴 Koto: music

Conversation about CONFUCIANSIM

https://wiki.samurai-archives.com/index.php? title=Four_Accomplishments - Confucianism! - the 4 accomplishments are nothing to do with buddhism or taoism.

- Confucianism aims at refining the personality, behaving in a civilised way, acquiring culture and learning - Audio - Page on confucianism Look at this page in the link … really useful.

Discovery that there are 4 prints in this collection...

1. My one I have found in oriental museum (music) 2. One dr parton emailed me (painting) a. In the V + A museum http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O69306/the-courtesan-shigeokaof-okamoto-woodblock-print-eisan/ b. Also in the MFA Boston http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/painting-ga-shigeoka-of-theokamotoya-from-the-series-fashionable-four-accomplishmentsf%C3%BBry%C3%BB-kinkishoga-209828 3. This one (caligraphy) Hanazome of the Ogiya. https://www.google.co.uk/search? q=Four+Accomplishments+Eizan&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X& ved=0ahUKEwj0lZnz97HaAhWLalAKHVomAFgQ_AUICigB&biw= 1380&bih=713#imgrc=x5nTHtBDDwnKzM: Go - location is unknown

書 syo: calligraphy

A starting point leading to the unknown prints?

画 Ga: paint Summary of meeting:

By the end of my meeting with Dr. P, I had discovered another print in the series, the 'Painting' part of the set. Both the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and the V + A hold versions of this print. However, I was struggling to find the other 2 (calligraphy and go).

There was one clue which I used as a starting point: a cataloguing reference on the MFA Boston website. The line 'other prints in the series' stood out in particular: Kondô, ed., Eizan (JUM exh. cat., 1996), list #161.4 (no photo), other prints in the series: cat. nos. 269-71; Hizô Ukiyo-e taikan/Ukiyo-e Masterpieces in European Collections 4, Victoria and Albert Museum I (1989), pl. 139. I then emailed the V & A in London to try and track down the other 4 accomplishments and I also found exhibition of Kikukawa Eizan: http://www.ukiyoe-ota-muse.jp/exhibitioneng/kikukawa-eiza

- Advice for both delivering and structuring the podcast - Brief discussion of the role of Geisha in Japanese society (although I discovered that the subject of this print is infact an Oiran -Discussion about the Four Accomplishments. ○ Another theme which might come out of it is that this is one of 4 accomplishments. Whilst the woodblock print might be classified in the category of 'bjinja' (check spelling), it also belongs to this sub-category of 'Four accomplishments' pieces.

Confirmation that this piece most likely is part of a collection!!!! I have managed to find 3/4 of the pieces.

- The 'Four Accomplishments' are actually nothing to do with Buddhism or Taoism, but Confucianism. We then briefly discussed Confucianism and its history in Japan - Discussed other artists who have depicted the 4 accomplishments

碁 Ki: Go Location is unknown

email exchanges...

Turning point: a response from the Japanese Ukiyo-e museum!

PDF with information from Azusa Gomi (from Ukyio-e museum in Tokyo)

INDEPENDENT RESEARCH

The following pages will outline some of the things I have learnt from independent reading, research and museum visits.

L. Rogers, Reviewed Work(s): Yoshiwara: The Glittering World of the Japanese Courtesan. by Cecilia Segawa Seigle, Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 49, No. 4 (Sophia Univeristy, 1994), pp. 503-506.

• This book is an excellent introduction to the phenomenon of Yoshiwara • as its author accurately describes it in the preface, 'an introduction and a companion to studies of art, literature, and social history of the Yoshiwara' (p. ix).

• The author is both philologist and cultural historian, • We learn, for example, that only men were geisha until about 1760, and that it was not uncommon for girls of 12 or 13 to work as prostitutes • Yoshiwara and the other legal quarters, mirroring the world around them, were highly stratified. Writing of the tayu, who was at the apex of the narrow social structure, Seigle notes that 'no selfrespecting courtesan would make love to a new client until his third visit' (p. 67).

Of course, this does not mean that the author is blind to the unsavory nature of prostitution and Yoshiwara, which she characterizes as a 'near-slave system' (p. ix). But she sees this exploitation as part of a whole, a society in which 'women of all classes and indeed all members of the lower social and economic classes were ex ploited and treated with little respect or consideration' (p. 4).

L. Markus, Reviewed Work(s): Yoshiwara: The Glittering World of the Japanese Courtesan by Cecilia Segawa Seigle, The Journal of Japanese Studies, Vol. 20, No. 2 (Summer, 1994), pp. 486-493 GROWTH OF PROSTITUTION IN THE PERIOD • Among the most astonishing developments of early modern urban culture is the sudden new prominence of prostitution. Though a relatively minor, peripheral component in previous ages of Japanese culture, prostitution from the late sixteenth century rapidly rose from an obscure existence in muddy inns and harbor shanties to become one of the most visible, defining elements in the metropolitan panorama • Along with the samurai and merchant, the prostitute emerges as one of the persistent icons of the entire period. Early Western opinion was quick to note the eruption of this class on the urban scene: a Florentine traveler in the early seventeenth century remarks that Japan "is more plentifully supplied than any other [country] with these sorts of means of gratifying the passion for sexual indulgence, just as it abounds in every other sort of vice, in which it surpasses every other place in the word. (The reflections are from Francesco Carletti's (1573?-1636) Ragionamenti del mio viaggio intorno al mondo (Discourses on my journey around the world, 1701), reproduced in Michael Cooper, ed., They Came to Japan (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1965), p. 65.

The prostitution of the early modern period reached its most intricate and conspicuous expression, of course, in the elaborate hierarchies of the designated licensed quarters At the pinnacle of these licensed zones are the Yoshiwara quarters authorized in Edo from the seventeenth century onwards. The Yoshiwara remained throughout its long prosperity an area entirely distinct from its surroundings, yet at the same time, an embodiment of the cultural aspirations, myths, and ideals of that society like few other locations. Seigle traces the creation of the "Old" Yoshiwara quarter, established by 1618, and pursues its history, replete with numerous initial calamities and setbacks, through 1657.

Three chapters describe the relocated, more familiar "New" Yoshiwara at its peak, during the late seventeenth through late eighteenth centuries.

A steady erosion in the financial status of the clientele dominates these chapters, and we see the fabulous free-spending tsū or connoisseurs of the early eighteenth-century yield before more frugal, more restrained middle and lower merchant-class patrons.

Two final chapters outline the rise of the female geisha.

Background SANKIN KOTI SYSTEM • Mid-seventeenth-century Japan was a very different country from what it had been even fifty years earlier. Then Tokugawa leyasu (1543-1616) had only just finished consolidating his power, putting a final end to more than a century of unrest and civil war.

During the intervening years, however, the policies he had initiated and that his successors pursued (which included outlawing Christianity and closing the country to almost all contact with the outside world)4 had begun to transform Japanese society in significant ways.

• The restoration of peace ushered in a period of prosperity and extraordinary urban growth.

That growth was nowhere more spectacular than in Edo • At the beginning of the century, Edo was still a minor castle town; fifty years later, it was well on its way towards the population of over a million that it would reach by the early 1700s.5 • inevitably brought about economic and social changes of wide ranging significance. Among the most important of these was the rapid development of a money economy in place of the rice-based economy of the past, a development that allowed the merchant capital and acquire a level of spending power that was totally out of line with their official placement at the bottom of the social hierarchy

• between 1635 and 1642, of the so-called sankin kotai system, which required the great feudal lords, the daimyo, to maintain residences in Edo and spend alternate years there in attendance at the shogun's court • Cut off by their low status from any significant participation in public affairs, the only focus for their energies, apart from trade, was in the pursuit of pleasure.

• Nowhere was that quest for pleasure more in evidence than in the "floating world" of the amusement quarters that became such distinctive features of Japanese cities at this time.

• The "floating world" was the one arena in which the townspeople could give free expression to their tastes and aspirations and attempt to satisfy their hunger for novelty • At the heart of the "floating world" were the brothel districts, referred to poetically as the "flower and willow precincts" or the "green towers' • openly. The most famous of the licensed quarters, the Yoshiwara, formed a walled city of its own, surrounded by rice paddies, on the northeast outskirts of Edo 6 The Yoshiwara had been moved to this site when its original quarters closer to the center of town were destroyed by the disastrous "Meireki Fire" of 1657. After the move, it was frequently referred to as Shin (i.e., new) Yoshiwara. Given its relatively remote location, a visit to the Yoshiwara inevitably became some thing of an outing with well-known landmarks (many of them familiar from the prints) lining the way. The most popular route was by boat from Yanag bashi, near the Ryogoku Bridge, up the Sumida River to San'ya, and thence by palanquin along the Nihon Dike.

Trip to London and the V & A 20/10/17Â The V&A's collection of ukiyo-e is one of the largest and finest in the world, with over 25,000 prints, paintings, drawings and books.

Ukiyo-e means 'Pictures of the Floating World'.

Images of everyday Japan, mass-produced for popular consumption in the Edo period (16151868), they represent one of the highpoints of Japanese cultural achievement. Popular themes include famous beauties and well-known actors, renowned landscapes, heroic tales and folk stories.

Ukiyo-e prints from the collection are available for study in the V&A Prints and Drawings study room.

The art of ukiyo-e is most frequently associated with colour woodblock prints, popular in Japan from their development in 1765 until the closing decades of the Meiji period (1868-1912).

The earliest prints were simple black and white prints taken from a single block. Sometimes these prints were coloured by hand, but this process was expensive. In the 1740s, additional woodblocks were used to print the colours pink and green, but it wasn't until 1765 that the technique of using multiple colour woodblocks was perfected. The glorious full colour prints that resulted were known as nishiki-e or 'brocade pictures'.

Popular themes Prints could be produced quite cheaply and in large numbers. While only the wealthy could afford paintings by the artists of the day, ukiyo-e prints were enjoyed by a much wider audience.

The subjects depicted in these prints reflect the interests and aspirations of the people who bought them

The V&A has been collecting Japanese art and design since it was founded in 1852 and now holds one of the world's most comprehensive collections, including ceramics, lacquer, arms and armour, woodwork, metalwork, textiles and dress, prints, paintings, sculpture and modern & contemporary studio crafts.

With the exception of some early metalwork, ceramics and Buddhist sculpture, most objects date from the Edo (1615-1868) and Meiji (1868-1912) periods.

Of particular interest is our collection of over 30,000 Edoperiod ukiyo-e prints, paintings, drawings and albums. We also hold one of the finest and most complete collections of Japanese enamels in the world, as well as the earliest documented examples of this art form in any museum.

Learning about the production process at the

Beauties and actors 'Pictures of the Floating World', the literal translation of ukiyo-e, refers to the licensed brothel and theatre districts of Japan's major cities during the Edo period. Inhabited by prostitutes and Kabuki actors, these were the playgrounds of the newly wealthy merchant class.Despite their low status in the strict social hierarchy of the time, actors and courtesans (high-class prostitutes) became the style icons of their day. Their fashions spread to the general populace via inexpensive woodblock prints.

The team involved in the production of ukiyo-e has famously been called the 'ukiyo-e quartet'. It comprised the publisher (who usually had overall control of the process),the designer, the block cutter and the printer.

Once the design was complete, an exact copy was made and placed facedown on a cherry wood block. The block cutter then carved directly through the copy to produce what is known as the key-block.

The printer used the key-block to produce a number of black and white prints, from which further blocks could be made for each colour needed in the final print. Known as key-block proofs, these prints feature registration marks: small rectangles outside the area of the picture. When the colour blocks were carved, these marks were used to create stops so that the printer could line up the separate colours exactly.

The V&A's collection includes a number of copyists' drawings. Normally, these drawings would be destroyed in the production of the key-block. They are therefore rare survivals that were never realised as prints. The collection also includes a number of key-block proofs. Together, these offer unique insights into the production methods of ukiyo-e.

Woodblock print, 'Geisha in a Hurry', Utagawa Kuniyasu, Japan, about 18161818. Museum no. E.10458-1886, © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Woodblock print, Oniwakamaru subduing the Giant Carp, Totoya Hokkei, about 1830-1832. Museum no. E. 3826:1&21916, © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

A problem for historians studying The Yoshiwara...

I think it is important to recognize that whilst this cultural practice produced beautiful works of art, the realities of prostitution were dire. Historians and art historians are often guilty of a lack of sympathy for the realities of these women's lives.

In Yoshiwara by Cecilia Seigle, for example, the author treads where previous commentators on Yoshiwara never ventured, the purely sexual This is interesting information of itself, but it leads us to wonder about the other thoughts and beliefs of the women of Yoshiwara, which, in turn, brings us to the only real shortcoming of the book, and one that the author had no control over: the almost total lack of sources by the women themselves.

All surviving primary sources are the work of men! Including the woodblock prints .Given the male's keen interest in the subject over the generations, we are not lacking in information on prostitution in Edo Japan, but the picture is fated to remain distorted until the day when the writings of an Edo-era Murasaki or Kuroyanagi Tetsuko come to light.

Degrading as we may view the prostitute's condition, for many women, in fact, prostitution offered some degree of upward social mobility, and one of the most accessible avenues of escape from relentless rural poverty. Yoshiwara does not whitewash or pass over lightly the unhappy aspects of its subject, but does not, by the same token, ignore the positive aspects of the institution in a society that offered women few other opportunities for long-term employment. We are assured (by the author) that society attached no particular stigma to prostitution, that the public regarded the industry as "no more immoral than offering a glass of water to a thirsty man" (p. 34).

Certainly, this is the image that emerges from the pages of the work. One looks in vain for any genuine objection to an institution that, in modern eyes, seems an intolerable compromise of human dignity. BUT still‌ the efforts of the civic magistracy to curb the unlimited proliferation of the industry, curtail the ranks of streetwalkers, supervise operations in the Yoshiwara, and prevent anonymous visits by daimyo all suggest an intent to discourage the industry and its patrons. The book has a lack of any discussion about social attitudes at large toward prostitutes. How far did society condone patronage of the Yoshiwara? What undesirable consequences, if any, did public opinion impute to these associations? If class differences played a role in an assessment of "deviance," what were they?

Travelling to The Yoshiwara Accessing the courtesans: • Suspense and difficulty of access enhanced perceived value and gratification: clients were obliged to travel some distance to reach the Yoshiwara, and often faced the prospect of repeated trips to win the favour of their desired courtesan. Even after favour had been granted, the patron might be compelled to endure long waits and delays as a prelude to his rendezvous • compelled to endure long waits and delays as a prelude to his rendezvous. The extreme dress, the unusual dialect and house jargon cultivated by the prostitutes attracted by their exoticity, and instilled in those experienced in the ways of the quarter a sense of exclusivity, and of privileged access to a world savoured in full by a very few Seigle avoids the tiresome cliché, that the Yoshiwara, like the kabuki theater, constituted an "oasis" of chōnin (merchant) values, a townsman's utopia in which suppressed class aspirations and frustrations found expression, and where money alone secured privilege

• In fact, the Yoshiwara appears as a realm in which client and host, regardless of background, playfully enact roles utterly dissimilar from those enforced by their conventional lives.

• The humble country girl acts out the part of an aristocratic grande dame, superior and aloof, charitable to a vast entourage of staff and protegees. The customer, be he merchant, monk, or samurai, assumes a seigniorial role To think of the Yoshiwara as a mere marketplace for flesh would be to miss its purpose entirely: it was this sophisticated play, and the freedom it afforded to relinquish formal identities, rather, that were among its most heady enticements

Ukiyo-E 'Pictures of the Floating World' D. Jenkins, 'Paintings of the Floating World', The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, Vol. 75, No. 7 (Sep., 1988), pp. 244- 260, 262-278, 238.

UKIYO-E = 'PICTURES OF THE FLOATING WORLD' • The word ukiyo-e (literally, "pictures of the floating world," a curious term whose origins are explained below) encompasses both prints and paintings ○ Today nikuhitsu ukiyo-e is used for paintings and ukiyo-e hanga for prints. In the Edo period, various terms were used for the prints, though nishiki-e, "brocade pictures," was probably most common • But what does the term actually mean? What was the ukiyo, the "floating world," that these "pictures" depicted?

It seems that ukiyo-written with different characters meaning "sorrowfull world"-was originally a Buddhist concept referring to the transitory, insubstantial nature of human existence. Some time during the seventeenth century, however, the term underwent one of those ironic shifts in meaning that often occur in words during times of dramatic social change. It began to refer to the pleasures of human life, especially those associated with the brothel districts and the amusement quarters, even while some remnants of its earlier connotations remained, as the use of the character for "floating," with all its implications of impermanence, makes clear.

Introduction to the Oiran

The "flower and willow precincts" developed their own elaborate forms of etiquette, and society within the licensed quarters was as highly stratified as it was elsewhere in Tokugawa Japan. At the top of the hierarchy were the tayū or oiran (popularly known as keisei, or "castle breakers," in half-humorous allusion to the devastation wrought by their charms).

• Their beauty and accomplishments were legendary, and it is hardly surprising that these high-ranking courtesans provided the subject matter for countless ukiyo-e paintings and prints.

• the focus of the print is an oiran, 10 that enduring symbol of Geisha = A geisha was a professional entertainer, not a courtesan, though on everything that was most occasion the distinction became blurred. The profession arose in the midcaptivating about the pleasure eighteenth century and soon acquired a mystique almost rivaling that of the oiran quarter

differences between Geisha and Oiran? https://adventuresofanette.blogspot.co.uk/2016/0 4/geisha-vs-oiran-characteristics-of.htm - Really good blog on the differences between Geisha and Oiran (花魁).

- The Oiran tradition flourished back in the early Edo period (1600-1868), a time where they were seen as entertainers and superstars. The Geisha on the other hand were held in the background and dressed restraint in order for them to not be in competition with the Oiran, and the Oiran profession is thus in a sense the forerunner of the Geisha. The Oiran were educated women who were masters of a wide range of traditional arts, and highly respected for their profession.

Oiran profession has however died out, and unlike Geishas there are no professional working Oiran left in Japan today. The Oiran tradition does however live on even today through Oiran Dochu (おいらん道中) parades.

KIMMONO - the Geisha is dressed modestly, and her kimono is not supposed to be too flashy.

- The Oiran is on the other hand supposed to attract customers, and her kimono is made to get her the attention - . She is extravagantly dressed, typically in a kimono with patterns in gold and with strong vivid colours.

- The quality of the kimonos is also different. While the Geisha traditionally wore kimonos of cheaper materials the Oiran wear a kimono made of the purest silk.

- And then comes all the layers!

- The Tayuu (太夫) is the highest-ranked Oiran, and in addition to the kimono she also wears a special obi called uchikake which is tied at the front Her full attire can weigh about 20 kilos HAIR - The part about Geisha ladies dressing modestly is also the case for her hairstyle; She traditionally would wear a simple wig without any accessories.

- The Oiran, on the other hand, has her hair filled with ornamental hairpins (kanzashi) and other golden coloured accessories

Roug h N otes

Continued...

http://www.emuseum.jp/detail/100320/000/000? mode=simple&d_lang=en&s_lang=en&word=four+accomplishments&class=&title=&c_e=&region=&era=&century=&cptype=&o wner=&pos=1&num=3 - Something on four accomplishments http://thestillroomblog.com/2014/05/09/dont-confuse-geisha-and-courtesans-oiran-and-tayu/ Don’t Confuse Geisha and Courtesans (Oiran and Tayu) it is apparent from my forays around Pinterest and the web that images of geisha and courtesans are often mislabeled.

For those unfamiliar with subtleties in the styling and wear of kimono, obi, and traditional Japanese hairstyles, it can be difficult to differentiate between a geisha, There is a lot less information on oiran in English than other forms of courtesans like geisha or maiko … but the 1899 book The Nightless City is an account of the world they lived in.

https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-differences-between-geishas-and-oirans Oirans are basically high-class prostitutes, but some of them are sufficiently high-ranked to choose and reject potential customers.

Geishas are simply entertainers. They are supposed to be hosts for parties and provide informal, plain backdrop (willow) to the oirans (flower). In fact, the rise of the geishas begun the fall of the oirans.

Oiran fee was extremely expensive (more than a shop assistant’s yearly wage, per night). In some ways, Oirans was also a more “prestigious” and “exclusive” group than Geishas. They were extremely beautiful and ornate, out-of-reach, and over time their interaction with clients became very ritualized. Oiran fashion was extremely ornate (and became moreso over time), their speech retained old court standards, and they were increasingly unapproachable to potential clients.

As the times changed, Geishas began to rise and their relative informality and simplicity became the new chic. Despite their air of elegance and unattainability outside the teahouses, geishas are relatively informal, fun companions, who would play drinking games and tell jokes as you spent the evening with your colleagues.

Are geisha prostitutes, or have they ever been?

The answer flat out is NO. While geisha arose from the courtesan world, during the Edo period they established themselves as part of the entertainment class and were never prostitutes themselve However, when 1800 came in, the oiran slowly fell out of demand when wealthy Japanese men chose geisha more as their companion of choice due to their ‘chic’ and modern demeanour.

Rise of the geisha was the fall of the oiran S. Longstreet and E. Longstreet, Yoshiwara: The Pleasure Quarters of Old Tokyo, (Yen Books: Japan, 1988) Ch 5 'Geishas and Courtesans' • The word Gei translates as art, and the word Sha as person. So a Geisha is a person making jests, entertaining, performing the tea ceremony and whispering obscene jokes to the customers • It was in the 17th century that the term geisha was really established in Edo, meaning a trade in singing and dancing entertainment • They were not by defibition prostitutes, and could not compete with the professional courtesans of the Yoshiwara at parties against union rules. But they were sexually available, and to keep a geisha had a certain social value, like collecting art has for the rich today in the West They were the fashion icons of the day

Tadashi, Kobayashi, Ukiyo-e : an introduction to Japanese woodblock prints/ 1941 ; translated by Mark A. Harbison (Tokyo ; New York : Kodansha International, 1997.)

• Unlike Western genres that deal with expressive figures, which often reveal a preoccupation with nudes, Japanese painting demands that the artist focus on the beauty of kimono, elaborate coiffures, and styles of makeup as well as the beauty of features or the model's post .

• In order to maintain the distinction between geisha and courtesan (yūjo), there was an unwritten law at the Yoshiwara pleasure quarter that prohibited geisha from accepting overnight customers as, of course, courtesans were required to The production of full-colour woodblock prints was essentially a cooperative effort by artists, engravers, painters, and publishers DEVELOPMENT OF THE UKIYO-E Painting in the Edo period • The term ukiyo-e or 'pictures of the floating world' refers to a style of genre painting and woodblock printing that arose in Japan in the seventeenth century and fell into decline in the nineteenth • Originally associated with a Buddhist world view and alluding to the ephemerality of man's existence, the phrase 'floating world' subsequently came to suggest a hedonistic preoccupation with the present moment, with the latest fashions, pursuits, and life styles of urban culture, and implied a certain chicness • Ukio-e were created essentially by and for the townsman class of that city, not the military aristocracy or the court nobility The advent of genre painting • The development of painting as a popular art form widely accessible to the common people was not an early phenomenon in Japan, despite the country's long artistic tradition The Vogue for block-printed books with illustrations • The Japanese tradition of woodblock printing is perhaps the oldest in the world, dating back to the Hyakumantō Darani (770) • It was not until the 17th century that techniques of woodblock printing were exploited in the production of popular art and literature Decline Ukiyo-e prints were a part of the culture that they depicted, and with the Meiji Restoration of 1868 they quickly lost the vitality that characterized the prints of the Edo period

- Oiran (花魁) was a name given to a prostitute who was very popular and highly regarded, mostly for her beauty, in the brothels of Yoshiwara in Edo - A regular Yoshiwara prostitute was called a yuujo (遊⼥) which means "play woman." (Other types of prostitutes had other names.) An oiran was like the pinup girl of Edo—many of the bijin-ga (pictures of beautiful women) that exist as woodcut prints are of oiran.

HOW TO CREATE WOODBLOCK PRINTS? The process of creating a ukiyo-e woodcut print was not the work of one artist. Four different and highly skilled people were necesssary to complete the beautifully decorated sheets: the painter who designed the print by making a drawing, and indicating the color choices, the woodcutter who produced the wood engraving, the printer who applied the actual colors used, and the publisher who financed and planned each print. The close collaboration of these four craftsmen was required for the succesful completion of each print.

The full color ukiyo-e woodblock print flourished during the period of Japan’s isolation from the Western world.

Many beautiful prints were produced by a great number of artists, commencing with the innovative work of Masanobu (1686-1764). The decline of the refined ukiyo-e print occurred during and following the life of the artist, Kuniyoshi (1797-1861). With the opening of Japan after two hundred years, the ukiyoe print found its way to western Europe.

Utamaro’s name has become synonymous with the representation of beautiful women, usually of the Yoshiwara and the lower classes. Information of his early life is confusing, yet is known that he wrote poetry, studied art, was married, and had a family. His chief innovation was the introduction of large head pictures known as oøkubi-e.

Takahashi, Seiichirō, Traditional woodblock prints of Japan, (New York: Weatherhill, 1972) Chapter six: 'Genre Prints and Prints of Beautiful Women' • Ukiyo-e artists who regarded their work as a revival of ancient artistic traditions often selected classical themes and modernized them in their prints • Examples of such themes are the Six Tama Rivers, the Six Greatest Poets, the Seven Ages of the Poetess Komachi, and themes from such literary works as Tales of Ise … [maybe 4 accomplishments was trying to do this too?!]

• The golden age of ukiyo-e was also the golden age of bijinga: pictures of beautiful women Tinios, Ellis, Japanese prints : Ukiyo-e in Edo, 1700-1900 / Ellis Tinios. London : British Museum, 2010.

Influence in the West • Manet, Degas and Monet, known today as Impressionists, but before the term was coined in 1874 they were referred to as les japonais to reflect their passionate engagement with Japanese art in general and japanese prints in particular

Research questions

At this stage, I am able to start thinking about what sort of questions I want to answer in my podcast, and what sort of themes I want to address.

1. THe meaning of the 'Four Accomplishments' in Japanese Society and the influence of Confucianism 2. Dating the object - I believe the date that the oriental museum has down for this object is incorrect. Setting the object in its historical context and using my understanding of the other prints in the series, I hope to prove that this was produced earlier than the oriental museum dates it 3. the differences between Geisha and Oiran 4. Look at different sub-categories this print falls into: both Bijinga and the FOur Accomplishments 5. The position and role of the Oiran in Yoshiwara 6. the theme of Mitate (sometimes translated at 'parody') in Japanese Ukiyo-e prints

Introduction TO UKIYO-E ‘Ukiyo’ means ‘floating world’ in Japanese, and ‘e’ means picture. Ukiyo-e refers to `pictures of the floating world’. The famous Japanese woodblock prints known as ukiyoe, or ‘pictures of the Floating World’, had their origins in the city pleasure districts of Japan. The images of the floating world depicted an enjoyable and fashionable lifestyle, showing latest kimono designs worn by beautiful women, capturing scenes from cafes and festivities, and featured images of famous actors, samurai, geisha and beauties. The Golden Age of ukiyo-e was the period of time between 1781 and 1801, when colour woodblock printmaking in Japan was at its height. The best images are thought to have been made in this 20 year window. Many people believe this is one of the most extraordinary periods of art in the world.

nishiki-e: brocade pictures.

Multi-colour printing emerged from two-block colour printing processes from the mid to late 1700’s in Edo (modern day Tokyo). Made up of five to ten separate woodblocks, one for each colour, the images presented in The Golden Age of Colour Prints, are all high quality, multi-coloured prints called nishiki–e. Designed by prominent artists from well-known schools of art, the artists worked in a number of different media that included painting, book illustration, posters, as well as single and series based editions of woodblock prints for popular consumption. Produced by hundreds of publishing houses from the Picture Book and Print Publishers Guild, ukiyo-e were churned out in great numbers for an eager and increasingly growing market of consumers of popular culture on high quality hōsho paper. In subject matter, they ranged from stylized depictions of daily life in both urban and rural settings, from fashionable outings and colourful cultural festivals, to intimate scenes of courtesans from the pleasure quarters of the ‘floating world’ also known as ‘ukiyo’. Most expressive or gestural in design and subject matter, are the character and actor prints from Kabuki theatre and from popular story-telling traditions of eighteenth century Japan.

FOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS - Another category favored by ukiyo-e artists - Classical theme

William M. Tsutsui, A Companion to Japanese History, (John Wiley & Sons, 2009) Introduction to the 4 accomplishments With the rise of education and literacy, especially among members of the low to middle echelons of the samurai class who were otherwise restricted from utilizing their abilities for the improvement of society, there arose in the mid eighteenth century a tendency for certain taented individuals to focus on their literary and artistic skills, and to emulate Chinese scholar-poets, called wenren in Chinese, about whom they had read. Their Chinese role models were often landed gentry who did not need to earn a living, so they would devote themselves to the "four accomplishmins: of playing the qin, or koto, playing the jame of go, enjoying calligraphy, and drawing pictures The c18 Japanese, known a bunjin, who found this bohemian-like lifestyle desireable, in most cases did not have the financial or material resources to allow for pure ameture devotion to the arts In spite of the fact that they relied on sales of their art in order to support themselves, Japanese bunjin maintained a state of mind that avoided crass materialism or commercialism, and in their paintings and other works sought a detached, elevated consciousness http://gostart.ru/es02.html The Four Accomplishments» refers to the four arts, especially esteemed in China from around the seventh or eighth century, mastery of which was considered to be the mark of a well-rounded gentleman-scholar.

Buddhism and the Historical Construction of Sexuality in Japan Author(s): Minamoto Junko and Hank Glassman Source: U.S.-Japan Women's Journal. English Supplement, No. 5 (1993), pp. 87-115 Published by

In actuality, the pleasure quarter was a rarefied place with its own laws. The courtesans were ranked according to quality, as commodities, in a pyramidal fashion, with the best, called oiran , at the apex. A prostitute with particular proficiency in sexual technique would become popular and so rise in rank. The pleasure quarter created its own unique culture in everything from clothing to language, the basis for this culture being the growing commodification of sexuality Classical themes were often a pretext for portraying identified courtesans Time-honoured Confucian theme, The Four Accomplishments The four accomplishments celebrated by the Chinese scholarliterati elite as elegant pastimes : playing the qin (Jp; kin 琴); playing Chinese chess or qi (Jp: ki棋); practicing calligraphy (Ch: shu, Jp: sho 書); and painting (Ch :hua, Jp: ga画). They probably arrived in Japan in the 14c and, as a painting subject, were extremely popular.

As with many other Chinese themes in Japanese painting, the original values attached to kinki shoga paintings gradually diminished in this case to a generalized image of the scholar in nature. *Ukiyo-e 浮世絵 artists created parodies *mitate-e ⾒⽴絵 of kinki shoga, typically with stylish courtesans in the place of Chinese scholars.

Around the end of the Momoyama and early Edo periods, for the first time in Japanese history, generic yūjo 遊⼥ (courtesans) from the yūri 遊⾥ (pleasure quarters) began to be depicted as subjects of paintings.

https://en.calameo.com/read/000006102141e7a1 b83f7

The Four Accomplishments, a common theme in Chinese and Japanese painting, depicts the cultural arts which were needed to be considered a gentlemen-scholar. In Japanese the term, kinki shoga, was comprised of the four characters for music (koto or kin; Ch. qin), Chinese chess (ki; Ch. qi), calligraphy (sho; Ch. shu), and painting (ga; Ch. hua), respectively

Mitate, sometimes translated as "parody", was a very popular theme among ukiyo-e artists in the Edo period. Serious religious or high class themes would be portrayed as being acted out by prostitutes, or otherwise parodied in a lower class 'floating world' setting.

In this series, the oiran perform the four scholarly accompishments of the refined, well-cultivated gentleman

At the top right the character kin (also read koto) identifies the scene as “Music” from a set of the Four Accomplishments (kinkishoga), a theme, common in earlier paintings, that alludes to the Chinese gentlemanly pursuits of music, strategy games, calligraphy, and painting.

Here Toyoharu follows a tradition of Edo period artists who reenvisioned the theme by substituting beauties in modern costume for Chinese scholars. References to contemporary fashion include chic wardrobe items like the kokyū player’s striped, ikat-dyed obi.

Notes from C. Seigle's Roug book, 'Yoshiwara' h notes INCLUDE IN THE CONCLUSION/FINAL REVIEW

ORIGINS OF PROSTITUTION

• In writing this book in the manner I have chosen, I am well aware of the danger of misrepresenting my own view on prostitution in general, an in particular the near-slave system in the walled-in quarter of the Yoshiwara • Most scholars discuss the Yoshiwara matter-of-factly without moral or humanitarian injunctions. Unscholarly books, on the other hand, give inaccurate and romanticized information • The enthusiasm for Yoshiwara culture expressed throughout this book should not be taken as tacit approval of its unsavoury aspects. Surface glamor and government sanction do not alter the fact that prostitution relies on the subjugation and exploitation of the prostitutes and, further, that the debasement of a whole class of people ultimately has a corrupting influence on those who take pleasure of profit from it • When prostitution is brought to the general public's attention as a present-day issue, it is regarded as a moral, medical, and social problem. In other words, it is illegal, unfashionable, and better left to the government and social workers. Quite the contrary was the case of the Yoshiwara during the Edo period. The public more than tolerated it, they fairly celebrated it • In many primary sources - personal accounts diaries, ad memoirs of Edo personalities - it is sometimes difficult to separate fact from rumour and fiction in Japanese records of the time. It should nevertheless be remembered that this blurring of fact and fiction constitutes a mythology of the Yoshiwara that, from the standpoint of people's perceptions of it, equaled if not exceeded in importance the Yoshiwara's factual history Courtesans had no last names but were identified instead by the names of their bordellos. For example, the courtesan Segawa of the House of matsuba would be Segwa of the Matsubaya

According to one theory, the practice of prostitution in Japan began in unrecorded ancient times, when, after an earlier period of general promiscuity, religious prostitution developed in connection with serving indigenous gods. Another theory says it began with itinerant female shaman/entertainers of Korean orign. Regardless of its origins, early literary evidence has led to the widely held conclusion that although there was 'free love,' there was no prostitution in the strictest sense in early Japan … against this background of wide acceptance of prostitution prior to the seventeenth century, the appearance of the Yoshiwara in the burgeoning community of Edo, the new seat of the shogun's government, was a natural and predictable development. The Yoshiwara was the only government-approved pleasure quarter in Edo, but it was not the only area of prostitution in the city, nor was it the only licensed quarter in Japan. A new and unique manner of prostitution and culture developed there, representing both the brightest and the darkest aspects of Japanese life during the ensuing years. Along with kabuki theatre, the Yoshiwara was one of the major subjects of ukiyo-e prints .

By early c19 (ie the time this print was made)… the Yoshiwara has lost its cultural significance. The decline came for a variety of reasons: competition from illegal prostitutes, changes in types of patronage, and the yoshiwara's own inflexibility in the face of progress in the outside world The has been a tendency among some modern Japanese to romanticize the whole of Edo culture, including the Yoshiwara. But even an appreciative view cannot deny that a great deal of the 'pleasure' of this pleasure quarter was based on a glorified system of indentured servitude involving considerable violation of what today are regarded as basic human rights/ By mid c19, courtesans who in earlier centuries had the freedom and selfassurance to turn down unattractive clients now had no choice but to accept anyone with money PERHAPS THIS SUGGESTS THAT THE PRINT WAS CREATED EARLIER THAN THE ESTIMATION?

CONTINUED... BACKGROUND TO THE OIRAN By 1750, courtesans were called Oiran, a generic term for higherclass courtesans including the rank of sancha. It was a strange word that had gradually come into existence before 1750 and, as a status, did not exist during the first half of the eighteenth century.

There are several etymological explanations for the word.

The least apocryphal says that the term began with an expression used by a kamuro named Kashiku during the Kyoho era. She used to call her mistress courtesan "oira no" (mine), an abbreviation of "my sister courtesan," form a coarse dialect used by rural children A haiku attributed to Kashiku is often quoted as proof of the word's origin and first use: Oiran no itchi yoku saku sakura kana Ours are blooming best of all the cherry blossoms

The haiku metaphorically implies: 'My sister courtesan is the very best, just as our cherry blossoms are the most beautiful'.

Development of an unusual word like this was not an unusual phenomenon in Yoshiwara because many children and girls came from the country and spoke a variety of dialects, the Yoshiwara artificially created a pattern of speech all its own. Courtesans and their attendants had to learn the prevailing style of speech in order to erase their past and assimilate into the new environment.

In the early part of the 18th century, intellectuals turned to the art and literature of China, and to produce paintings, poetry and essays inspired by Chinese models

PRESENTATION OF A NEW OIRAN In the c17, the glory of the Yoshiwara was maintained by the presence of tayĹŤ. The very existence of these women imbued the pleasure quarter with an aura of dignity and radiance that attracted men of rank and wealth . C18 Yoshiwara by contrast, came to reply more and more on events and spectacles to make the quarter a glittering place

Oiran no itchi yoku saku sakura kana Ours are blooming best of all the cherry blossoms

HANAOGI OF THE OGIA- THE SUBJECT OF THE PRINT the courtesan Hanaogi, one of the most renowned courtesans of the Kansei era (from about 1789 to 1801.) Hanaogi was celebrated not only for her beauty but for her exquisite brushwork and painting ability. Despite her "stardom" and her high ranking in the cadre of minutely organized brothel society, it can't have been a way of life she desired: Hanaogi is known to have tried to run away on more than one occasion. She actually escaped from the tightly patrolled pleasure district in 1794 but was caught and returned. Hanaogi was a favorite subject for major artists of her time like Utamaro, Isoda Koryusai, Eisen and many others. http://aboutjapan.japansociety.org/the_four_gen tlemanly_accomplishments#sthash.TsjC25l0.dp bs LINKS BETWEEN CHINA AND JAPAN The Medieval Period in Japan (12th–16th century) was a time of unprecedented closeness in the relationship between China and Japan. Ideas were exchanged freely and travel between nations was frequent.

Furthermore, Japan looked to China at this time as a cultural model and readily absorbed their artistic, religious and intellectual traditions.

Among the ideas transmitted from China and cultivated in Japan during this period was the concept of the gentlemanly scholar: literate in Chinese and skilled in the refined arts of calligraphy, painting, chess, and playing the qin (a stringed instrument, pronounced “kin”).

These skills are known as the "Four Accomplishments," one of which is represented here.

Related to this phenomenon, artwork was abundantly imported from China to Japan during this period and thus influenced Japanese aesthetics. One example of this aesthetic and artistic cultural exchange can clearly be seen in these panels.

China's past was frequently present in the art of Japan. Throughout its written history, Japan has borrowed cultural forms from the continent, adapting them to new uses and investing them with new meaning. This set demonstrates the popularity of Chinese culture in Japan's Edo period (1615-1868), when interest in China's historical traditions eurged. The 'four accomplishments' are all activities of cultivated Chinese gentleman. Such chinese subjects wer efavoured by Japan's warrior elites, who sought to show their knowledge and taste by displaying tehse high-minded scnees of enlightened gentility.

IMPORTANT NOTE!

I BELIEVE THE DATE OF MY PIECE AS UNDERSTOOD BY THE ORIENTAL MUSEUM (EST. 1820-40) IS INCORRECT.

WHY?

1. SOCIO-HISTORICAL CONTEXT 2. DATES OF THE OTHER PIECES IN THE SERIES The Oriental Museum dates the 'Music' print from the series as being made between 1820-40. However, in situating it within its historical context and examining the other prints in the series, I hope that my podcast can prove it was produced earlier than these dates.

Firstly, the print depicts an Oiran. the Oiran were going out of fashion 1820-40 and were subject to increased censorship. Therefore, it is more likely it was produced earlier, which makes more sense given that the Oiran were more popular and at the height of fashion in the earlier decades of the century.

Secondly, other prints in the series are dated earlier. The 'painting' print, held by the Boston MFA and the V&A dates it… 1814-17… which also makes more sense given that the Oiran were more popular in the earlier decades of the century. I also asked Azusa Gomi at the Ukiyo-e museum in Japan who estimated they were produced between 18131817.

Rationale for the form and content of the podcast As is evident from this research log, there were many aspects I could have discussed in this podcast; the role of Oiran; the impact of music in Japanese society; the rise of the Yoshiwara; the differences between Oiran and Geisha; the meaning of the characters in the print etc. etc. (I could go on forever!)

However, two aspects of my research stood out above the rest. Firstly, the fact that this print is part of a series, 'The Four Accomplishments' and secondly, that the Oriental Museum had dated it incorrectly (I think...!)

I wanted to explore in more depth the meaning of the 'Four Accomplishments'; it's origins in Confucianism and how artists like Eizan used such themes to guise their subjects - the courtesans. I also wanted to use the other prints in the series to prove that this was produced earlier than the period 1820-1840, and also to give it a more exact date.

PODCAST STRUCTURE 1. Introduction the object (background information and basic information) 2. What does the Object show? i.e. The courtesan Hanaogi of the Ogiya 3. How I know that this is an Oiran rather than a Geisha 4. Development of prostitution in Edo 5. Development of the Yoshiwara 6. Role of the Oiran in Yoshiwara 7. Differences between Oiran and Geisha 8. Introduction to the Four Accomplishments 9. Discussion of Confucianism 10. Discussion of Mitate 11. Conclusion

Conclusions and answers established by My research 1. This print is actually an Oiran rather than a Geisha - It is important to recognise the distinction between the Geisha and the Oiran, despite the fact that the Geisha are far more well-known today.

- Geisha and Oiran are often confused, particularly in ukiyo-e woodblock prints, so it is important to understand how Oiran can be identified (hairpins, obi, shoes etc.)

2. The Four Accomplishments.

- At the start, I questioned whether the fact that this print was part of a series was of great significance. It turns out it was hugely significant and opened up many opportunities for further research.

- I found out firstly, that this print was part of a series and that this particular series was a popular subject for many other artists, including Utamaru.

- I discovered that the origins of the ‘Four Accomplishments’ are located in Confucianism, one of the 3 great religions which arrived in Japan from China in the medieval period. o-Prints must be considered in their wider context, particularly if they are part of a series. In this case, the series opened up many areas for further research 3. Mitate-e. o Whilst this print belongs to the bijinga category and the Four Accomplishments sub-category… it also falls into another category of Ukiyo-e prints I never knew about before: Mitate-e. Mitate-e is often translated as ‘parody’. o is important for understanding how the shogunate’s clampdown on pictures of prostitution impacted the subject matter 4. The artist who created the series ‘The Fashionable Four Accomplishments’ actually produced two sets of prints on this same theme - This was a particularly exciting discovery because it came all the way from the Ukiyo-e museum in Japan.

- Even though the ‘go’ print in the series cannot be located, I discovered something entirely new about the output of Eizan during this period 5. The date of this print, as recorded by the Oriental Museum, is incorrect - The oriental museum database says this print was produced at some point between 1820-1840.

Following my research, I am able to offer a more exact and accurate estimation that this print was produced between the years 1813-1817.

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PODCAST: FIRST DRAFT The ‘Object of Desire’ I will be discussing is a Japanese colour woodblock print from the early 19th century. The print is part of the series Furyu Kinki Shoga, which translates to: ‘The Fashionable Four Accomplishments’ and the individual print is entitled ‘Kota’, which represents the ‘music’ element of the Four Accomplishments. At the top right the character kin (also read koto) identifies the scene as “Music” from a set of the Four Accomplishments (kinkishoga). The print is by the artist Kikugawa Eizan, a minor painter belonging to the Kanō school and I estimate it was produced approximately between 1814–17 . The production of fullcolour woodblock prints was essentialyl a cooperative effort by artists, engravers, painters, and publishers.

The print in question depicts the courtesan Hanaogi of the Ogiya in full style, a renowned beauty of the Kansei era (from about 1789-1801.) The print falls within the category of what is known as a Bijin-ga 美⼈画, ‘beautiful person picture,’ a generic term for prints of beautiful women in Japan, especially in ukiyo-e woodblock printing. Ukiyo-e is one of the earliest forms of massproduced art.

At first glance, one might assume that the subject of this print to be a geisha, but she is actually an Oiran. There are a number of aspects in this print that distinguish her as an Oiran. Firstly, her elaborate hair style filled with ornamental hairpins (kanzashi). The Oiran would wear elaborate wigs decorated with two or three large combs in addition to six hair pins in the front and a further six hair pins in the back. Secondly, her kimono has many layers and she wears a special obi, called uchikake which is tied at the front. Their kimono were of the highest quality silk and in the most up to date styles, making them akin to modern day super models, the oiran were fashion icons of their day. Altogether, their costume would have weighed close to 30 kilos so the women had to be physically very fit.

Among the most astonishing developments of early modern urban culture in 16th century Japan under Tokugawa ieyasu was the sudden new prominence of prostitution. Prostitution from the late sixteenth century rapidly rose from an obscure existence in muddy inns and harbor shanties to become one of the most visible, defining elements in the metropolitan panorama. Along with the samurai and merchant, the prostitute emerged as one of the persistent icons of the entire period. The prostitution of the early modern period reached its most intricate and conspicuous expression, of course, in the elaborate hierarchies of the designated licensed quarters. At the pinnacle of these licensed zones are the Yoshiwara quarters authorized in Edo from the seventeenth century onwards.

The Yoshiwara was located on the northeast outskirts of Edo, it was a rarefied place with its own laws. It had been moved to this site when its original quarters closer to the center of town were destroyed by the disastrous "Meireki Fire" of 1657. Yoshiwara, like elsewhere in Tokugawa Japan, was a highly stratified society. At the top of the hierarchy were the tayū or oiran (popularly known as keisei, or "castle breakers," in half-humorous allusion to the devastation wrought by their charms). The developed their own elaborate forms of etiquette, society and even accent within the licensed quarters. Their beauty and accomplishments were legendary, and it is hardly surprising that these high-ranking courtesans provided the subject matter for countless ukiyo-e paintings and prints. The Oiran was an enduring symbol of everything captiating about the pleasure quarter.

Oiran were the highest ranked prostitutes in Japan and were at their height of popularity in the early to middle Edo period. If a wealthy man wanted the services of an Oiran he could not approach her directly but through a tea house and only after he had proven to the tea house that he could afford it, their interaction with clients was extremely ritualized. One night with an Oiran could cost as much as a year’s wage for a commoner during this period. The Oiran was always of a higher rank than her customer and could decline him at any time. They were scouted from all areas of Japan so developed their own ‘accent’ to ensure that no one could pin point where they had originally come from. It took years and considerable amounts of money to train an Oiran and part of that training was in mastering the 4 accomplishments, in addition to tea ceremony and writing poetry.

The Oiran and Geisha are often confused. The word Gei translates as art, and the word Sha as person. So a Geisha is a person making jests, entertaining, performing the tea ceremony and whispering obscene jokes to the customers. A geisha was a professional entertainer, not a courtesan, though on occasion the distinction became blurred. Geisha were not prostitutes but specialised as hosts for private parties with dancing, singing and playing games. They began to grow in popularity and importance as the popularity of the Oiran began to fade.

One theory is that over time, the Samurai started to lose their standing and were gradually displaced by the increasingly wealthy and important merchant class. Over time, the Oiran became more and more formalised, elaborate, expensive and unapproachable. This merchant class of the late Edo period found the formality and expense of the Oiran too off-putting, and saw the geisha as more approachable so began purchasing their company instead. The profession arose in the mid-eighteenth century and soon acquired a mystique almost rivaling that of the Oiran.

Whilst the woodblock print might be classified in the category of 'bjinja', it also belongs to a sub-category of 'Four accomplishments' pieces. This print was produced in a period when the shogunate was trying to stop the depiction of courtesans and so artists were ‘hiding’ them in sets of prints that were in theory about different themes – here the Four Accomplishments. Prints of women were usually issued in series and in many series, considerable inventiveness was displayed in linking familiar female types of unrelated ‘sets’ of persons, scenes and/or actions such as the Four Accomplishments, five Confucian virtues or the eleven scenes in the kabuki play Chūshingura.

Government surveillance had a substantial impact on the content and formats of ukiyo-e prints. However, the regime was slow and inept in implementing a reform programme, only lumbering into action in the early 1840s. In 1842, the production of prints showing actors, prostitutes and entertainers (geisha) was suddenly banned. The artist, Eizan, has depicted a courtesan under the guise of a classical theme.

The four accomplishments (Go, painting, calligraphy and music) first arrive in Japan from China and were initially seen as the most important arts that a scholarly gentleman needed to learn. The Medieval Period in Japan (12th–16th century) was a time of unprecedented closeness in the relationship between China and Japan. Ideas were exchanged freely and travel between nations was frequent. Furthermore, Japan looked to China at this time as a cultural model and readily absorbed their artistic, religious and intellectual traditions. Among the ideas transmitted from China and cultivated in Japan during this period was the concept of the gentlemanly scholar: literate in Chinese and skilled in the refined arts of calligraphy, painting, chess, and playing the qin (a stringed instrument, pronounced “kin”). These skills are known as the "Four Accomplishments," one of which is represented here. This belief then transferred to Japanese culture and was adopted by Oiran and geisha. They were also an extremely popular theme in Japanese art. As with many other Chinese themes in Japanese painting, the original values attached to kinki shoga paintings gradually diminished in this case to a generalized image of the scholar in nature. *Ukiyo-e 浮世絵 artists created parodies *mitate-e ⾒⽴絵 of kinki shoga, typically with stylish courtesans in the place of Chinese scholars.

Mitate, sometimes translated as "parody", was a very popular theme among ukiyo-e artists in the Edo period. Serious religious or high-class themes would be portrayed as being acted out by prostitutes, or otherwise parodied in a lower class 'floating world' setting. In this series, the oiran perform the four scholarly accompishments of the refined, well-cultivated gentleman. Classical themes were often a pretext for portraying identified courtesans.

This print is actually part of a collection of four prints – music, calligraphy and painting are all identifiable but unfortunately, no major museum has any idea where ‘go’ is located. The Four Accomplishments will be the main theme around which this podcast is based.

‘The Four Accomplishments’ were the four pursuits, or arts, in which a Confucian gentleman was expected to be accomplished, in order to be cultured, and refined. The four include: music, go, calligraphy and painting. The print in the oriental museum represents the ‘music’ element.

Confucianism was one of the 3 great religions of China that got exported to Japan along with Buddhism and Taoism. According to early Japanese writings, it was introduced to Japan via Korea in the year 285 AD. Some of the most important Confucian principles are humanity, loyalty, morality and consideration on an individual and political level. Confucianism, a Western term that has no counterpart in Chinese, is a worldview, a social ethic, a political ideology, a scholarly tradition, and a way of life. Sometimes viewed as a philosophy and sometimes as a religion, Confucianism may be understood as an all-encompassing way of thinking and living that entails ancestor reverence and a profound human-centred religiousness. During the Edo Period (1603-1867), Neo-Confucianism (especially Chu Hsi Confucianism) was the most important philosophy in the Tokugawa government and education. It had a prevalent impact on Japanese society at the time, and its influences can still be felt today.

So, the 4 accomplishments have nothing to do with Buddhism or Taoism, they are to do with Confucianism. Confucianism aims at refining the personality; it is about learning how to be and behave in a civilised way and acquiring culture and learning. Confucianism may be linked to the face that the Oiran was actually a highly cultured woman in this society, unlike the Western perception of a courtesan. The Oiran were educated women who were masters of a wide range of traditional arts, and highly respected for their profession.

Other artists who have addressed this theme • Utamaru • Utamaro’s name has become synonymous with the representation of beautiful women, usually of the Yoshiwara and the lower classes.

Concluding points • Summarise and open up

FINAL SCRIPT

final reflection

It is with great reluctance that I must bring my project to a close. During my three years at Durham, this has undoubtedly been one of my favourite assignments. I never imagined how rewarding it would be to discover things about my object that I, and others, did not know before.

My research has taken me everywhere from Leiden, Boston and Tokyo, to discover more about my print and the others in the series. The most difficult aspect by far was deciding what to include within the podcast itself, because there is just so much to talk about.

I discovered many things about this print that not even the oriental museum knew. Firstly, that the artist, Eizan, produced two sets of the ‘Four Accomplishments’ prints. This was particularly exciting to discover as the information came all the way from Japan. Secondly, that the dates the Oriental Museum has down for this print are incorrect. In locating the item in its wider historical context and taking into account the fact it is part of a series, I discovered that it was produced much earlier than 1820-42. I believe it was actually produced between 1817-20 based firstly, on the fact that the Oiran had not yet begun to decline, so they would still be a popular subject for printmakers and secondly, on the fact that another print in the series held by the museum of fine arts in Boston is dated much earlier than 1820-40.

I like to relate this print to the iceberg analogy; on the surface, it seems as though this is a print which falls into the Bijinga category of Ukiyo-e woodblock prints and many would assume that the subject is a Geisha. Yet I discovered that there is far more depth and meaning to this piece and that it raises a number of different themes. Under the surface, one might discover that it is an example of Chinese influence in Japan; China's past was frequently present in the art of Japan. Throughout its written history, Japan has borrowed cultural forms from the continent, adapting them to new uses and investing them with new meaning. This set demonstrates the popularity of Chinese culture in Japan's Edo period. Other themes this print raised were the impact of Confucianism on the arts; the fact that prostitution in Japan was highly stratified; that it falls within the sub-category of mitate-e; that there are other prints in this series and that many other artists tackled the same subject. I could go on forever exploring the different leads this print opens up.

Undertaking detective work and tracking down the other prints in the series made me understand the obsession and satisfaction among collectors - both in the seventeenth-century and in the present day – when they manage to bring together prints like these in a collection.

On a final note, it is worth noting that there is a tendency among some modern Japanese to romanticize the whole of Edo culture, including the Yoshiwara. But even an appreciative view cannot deny that a great deal of the 'pleasure' of this pleasure quarter was based on a glorified system of indentured servitude, involving considerable violation of what today are regarded as basic human rights. It is important to recognize that whilst this cultural practice produced beautiful works of art, the realities of prostitution were often dire.

Furthermore, the vast majority (if not all) of the woodblock prints are created by male artists, there is a gap in the history if we cannot view the Yoshiwara from a female perspective. There is even evidence that the subject of my object, the Hanaogi of the Ogia, was unhappy in her profession. Despite her "stardom" and her high ranking in the cadre of minutely organized brothel society, it can't have been a way of life she desired: Hanaogi is known to have tried to run away on more than one occasion. She actually escaped from the tightly patrolled pleasure district in 1794 but was caught and returned. Given the male's keen interest in the subject over the generations, we are not lacking in information on prostitution in Edo Japan, but the picture is fated to remain distorted until the day when the writings of an Edo-era Murasaki or Kuroyanagi Tetsuko come to light.

Neverthless, this project has given me a deeper understanding and a new appreciation of Japanese Ukiyo-e prints and the Yoshiwara in the Edo period. Hopefully, woodblock prints from the Edo period will continue to offer historians and art historians a unique and valuable insight into the inner-workings of early modern Japanese society.