On Shinagawa Beach at Ebb-Tide 1769 - 1825

Utagawa Toyokuni I created this woodblock print called 'On Shinagawa Beach at Ebb-Tide'. We see three figures strolling along a beach at low tide. The two women and the man, all dressed in elegant attire, are pausing to smoke. The motif of smoking and the use of tobacco in this image can be read as a symbol of shifting social customs. Introduced by Europeans, tobacco use became fashionable in Japan, a motif that reappears in Japanese art and signals cultural exchange. The smoke rising from the pipes, almost like incense, links the ephemeral pleasure to a gesture toward contemplation or even a memorial rite. Consider how smoking appears in Dutch Golden Age paintings, often used to depict leisure or vanity. Yet here, the gesture is subdued, almost ritualistic. This subtle shift reflects how symbols are not static; they evolve, crossing borders and centuries. Toyokuni's woodblock print subtly reminds us of our shared human experiences and the way symbols carry cultural weight across time, resurfacing in unexpected ways, laden with new meanings.