Furuichi Dance (No. 3 of a Set of Four) 19th century

Curator: Looking at this, I can practically hear the music! This is “Furuichi Dance (No. 3 of a Set of Four),” a woodblock print made in the 19th century by Yashima Gakutei. The set captures moments of daily life, and it is part of the collection right here at The Met. Editor: Daily life, eh? It strikes me more as…a slightly melancholic vignette, honestly. The dark indigo and burnt orange give it a real autumn-evening kind of feel, wouldn’t you say? Like a farewell to summer festival before the cold settles in? Curator: It does have a poignant feeling about it, doesn’t it? Perhaps it’s the perspective; the scene feels like a half-remembered dream, a glance into a fading tradition through layers of time and nostalgia. It is the beauty of the floating world, after all. The ukiyo-e masters knew a thing or two about fleeting moments and transient beauty! Editor: Speaking of "floating," did you see the lanterns and their geometric echoes throughout the dancers’ costumes and even on the floor below? Almost like bubbles rising to the top or waterwheels… There is repetition creating rhythm and the color usage feels highly stylized; everything circles back on itself! This lends the image an amazing structural cohesion. Curator: Exactly! It almost hypnotizes you. And look how Gakutei layers textures— the patterns in the kimono fabrics against the more organic rendering of the pine trees in the background, playing with flat versus more illusionistic spaces… Editor: And see that flat plane on the deck contrasted with the depth beyond the balustrade. How wonderfully that works. It's a beautifully organized composition with these stylized visual textures, almost more like a stage design for a Kabuki drama than just, well, what's-for-dinner scene from the "floating world". Curator: Yes, there's this controlled sense of layering to enhance narrative elements! Even the calligraphy serves as textural, narrative elements layered between the scenery… fascinating. The interplay of movement and stillness gets me every time. Editor: Makes you wonder about all the countless moments, performances that happened in those spots of leisure we are privileged enough to gaze upon… all those dances in a fleeting time and light that vanish with each repetition of day! Curator: Absolutely! This woodblock becomes more than a mere representation— it becomes a ghost of the dances themselves! A reminder that everything dances away into the past.