Akashi Moon: Harima Province 1885

Yōshū Chikanobu made this woodblock print, Akashi Moon: Harima Province, at an unknown date. It belongs to a tradition called *ukiyo-e*, which flourished in Japan from the 17th through 19th centuries. The Floating World, as *ukiyo* literally translates, reflects a changing social order in the Tokugawa or Edo period. As Japan became increasingly urbanized, a merchant class developed alongside the traditional aristocracy of samurai. Leisure entertainments like the kabuki theatre, travel, and geishas became newly popular. *Ukiyo-e* prints like this one were a way to popularize those attractions, and make them available to a wider public. The prints are usually made collaboratively, with publishers, designers, engravers, and printers working together. Prints could challenge the existing social norms through their depictions of the courtesan world. They also created a new visual culture that could be disseminated widely. Art historians can consult a range of sources, from governmental documents and censorship records to personal diaries and theatre programs, to interpret the social role of these prints.