Nakasu, from the series "Ten Scenes of Enjoying the Cool in the Three Cities (Sangatsu ryo jikkei)" c. 1785 - 1786

Torii Kiyonaga created this woodblock print titled "Nakasu" as part of the series "Ten Scenes of Enjoying the Cool in the Three Cities." This image offers a glimpse into the leisure activities of women in late 18th-century Japan. It is suggestive of a period of relative peace and economic growth under the Tokugawa shogunate. But it is also suggestive of the institutional frameworks that allowed these women to take part in the pleasure industries of the city. Consider how Kiyonaga’s ukiyo-e prints, like this one, catered to a growing merchant class with disposable income and a taste for depictions of fashionable courtesans and urban life. Kiyonaga, who took over the family printmaking business, also ran a teahouse near the pleasure district. He knew the pleasure industries well. To understand this print more fully, we might research the social hierarchies and economic structures that defined Edo society. We might want to think about gender roles, and the rise of the merchant class and its impact on artistic production and consumption.