Tokugawa Ietsuga Playing at Archery 1875

Curator: Looking at this print, “Tokugawa Ietsugu Playing at Archery,” a work produced around 1875 by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, I am immediately struck by how it simultaneously conveys youthful playfulness and inherent violence. What’s your take? Editor: The scene appears as a layered critique on power, the ruling class’s unchecked behavior. A fallen figure is riddled with arrows, set against the opulent, but rigid interiors that highlight themes of privilege, recklessness, and a total disconnect. Curator: Visually, the arrows piercing the prone figure certainly jolt us. Historically, archery symbolized discipline and virtue for the samurai class. Yoshitoshi’s portrayal here upends that traditional symbolism. Editor: Exactly, and the image’s structure almost reinforces these contradictions. On one side, you have a sense of domestic disarray or play, yet balanced with other figures watching indifferently on the other side. They signify society’s compliance with displays of power. There’s a potent feminist read here too; note how this visual story reinforces narratives of subjugation and silent compliance. Curator: What resonates for me is the depiction of the "floating world," a Ukiyo-e theme emphasizing fleeting beauty and transient pleasures—we can’t miss how the bright color and patterns serve as an odd, and haunting, backdrop to a scene filled with real suffering, don't you think? This adds a layer of irony, maybe of moral ambivalence. Editor: I appreciate you pointing this out. Yet I think we should remember it is vital that we unpack the relationship of beauty to the harsh truths it may mask, it can function almost like a method to render some brutal truths palatable to the viewer. That figure sprawled and pierced on the red carpet invites questions regarding consent and structural violence, and I am wondering why is she lying prone to play?. Curator: True, art never exists in a vacuum. This piece uses conventional beauty to ask uncomfortable, yet essential, questions. What at first glance might feel like a simple genre scene becomes an invitation to probe darker socio-political depths. Editor: Precisely. Yoshitoshi compels us to confront both the historical specificities and how they inform modern contexts—where power structures frequently perpetuate unequal dynamics and hidden oppressions, this speaks still. Curator: The print certainly is far from a simple record of entertainment! The beauty in "Tokugawa Ietsugu Playing at Archery" leads into much wider fields of view of art and memory. Editor: For me, Yoshitoshi's art is very critical to understanding the history of abuses. Its continuing existence as a historical object demands that the audience keep discussing how art reflects reality while simultaneously challenging the foundations and the dynamics it portrays.