Two Young Women Playing a Game of Sugoroku 1769 - 1825

Curator: What a fascinating glimpse into leisure! Here we have "Two Young Women Playing a Game of Sugoroku," a print created by Utagawa Toyokuni I sometime between 1769 and 1825. The print, currently held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, seems to capture a quiet, intimate moment. Editor: My first impression is that there is nothing quiet about it. To me it looks a bright flurry of patterned fabric and concentrated gazes. All of those layered kimono scream materiality and production—so many silkworms and weaving! Curator: Indeed! This print offers insight into the world of textile production, social structure and gender. We see multiple figures, clearly depicting the varied class distinctions reflected by the level of materials and garments that they sport. We can tell who is doing the labor, and who has agency in leisure by examining the cost of materials. Editor: I suppose. Still, I’m drawn to the game itself. Sugoroku –it resembles backgammon doesn't it? Do you think the artist imbued any symbolic meaning to that simple board game? It feels like they're all so intent on the competition and the result of the rolls, of each simple step within the context of their gilded cage. Curator: That's a keen observation! Given Utagawa Toyokuni I’s position in the Ukiyo-e movement and his commentary of Japanese life, it's plausible that the game holds symbolic weight. Beyond documenting leisure, he also depicted life among multiple socio-economic situations. Editor: I see a window within a window—with a painting visible to us on the far-right panel depicting a natural landscape which, though itself an imitation of nature, becomes secondary in this intimate space where competition becomes a microcosm for culture itself. It’s quite something! Curator: Absolutely, your idea brings me back to my original focus of material; because after all these cultural artifacts –the game, the landscape depicted behind them– are made through material actions which allow us to peer back centuries to understand gender and leisure during this era. Editor: Yes, it reminds me that our most trivial pastimes can reflect deeper societal currents.