Benten Shrine in Shinobazu Pond c. late 1780s

Katsukawa Shunchō created "Benten Shrine in Shinobazu Pond" using woodblock printing techniques during the Edo period, a time when urban culture and arts flourished in Japan. This print captures a scene of leisure and social interaction. Three women, possibly courtesans or fashionable urbanites, are depicted visiting the Benten Shrine, a site dedicated to a female Buddhist deity associated with wealth, music, and eloquence. Look closely at the child reaching towards the lanterns, a subtle commentary on the fleeting desires and aspirations of the human condition. Woodblock prints like this one provided a medium through which ideas about beauty, fashion, and cultural identity circulated. Shunchō, working within the ukiyo-e tradition, both reflected and shaped societal values. The print invites us to contemplate the intersections of faith, commerce, and gender in Edo-period Japan.