Plum-Seeing Month: Second Month 1735 - 1790

Isoda Koryūsai created this woodblock print, ‘Plum-Seeing Month: Second Month,’ in Japan during the late 1700s. The image depicts two women enjoying a spring day by a river. Note the figures in the background, possibly laborers, providing a contrast to the leisurely scene in the foreground. Koryūsai was a samurai turned artist, and his work often portrays the daily life and fashions of women, reflecting the urban culture of the Edo period. During this time, woodblock prints became popular among the merchant class, who used them to celebrate their lifestyle. The prints served as a form of cultural expression outside the control of the ruling elite. Koryūsai’s work, with its emphasis on the beauty and elegance of women, both conformed to and shaped the aesthetic values of his time. To understand this artwork more deeply, you might explore Edo-period fashion, social class structure, and the history of woodblock printing in Japan. The meaning of art is always contingent on its social and institutional context.