Artwork preview

A View of the Pleasures of the Taiko and His Five Wives at Rakutō

Kitagawa Utamaro

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Colored woodblock print depicting a scene of a man, the Taiko, surrounded by five women. The man sits on a low platform on the center-right, wearing a robe. A woman standing to his right on a higher level wears a long dress; another woman sits on the floor beside him. Three women to the left of the man, two standing and one sitting, and one woman on the far left of the image stand or sit. One woman on the left holds a parasol. A woman on the right holds a hand fan. A woman standing on the left wears a kimono with a design. A child sits on the floor on the right. The background includes sliding doors and windows with shoji screens, and a tree with sparse leaves outside. The color palette includes shades of orange, green, and brown. Japanese characters appear vertically along the left and right sides.

Artwork Details

Date
1804
Medium
Triptych of woodblock prints; ink and color on paper
Culture
Japan
Dimensions
599 × 304 px
Public Domain
Yes
Museum Record
View original
Palette