Illustrated Book of Professions with Kyōka (Kyōka Yamato jinbutsu), 6th of 7 Volumes Possibly 1857

Curator: This sixth volume from Utagawa Hiroshige’s "Illustrated Book of Professions with Kyōka" depicts scenes of daily life, perhaps in late Edo period Japan. Editor: There's a dreamlike quality to it, isn't there? Like a half-remembered story. The figures seem suspended in a delicate balance between reality and something more ephemeral. Curator: Hiroshige, active in the 19th century, often focused on the lives of ordinary people. This book speaks to the social fabric, showing both labor and leisure. We see a woman sewing and a traveling performer, perhaps. Editor: The sewing woman is wonderfully serene, but the flute player almost seems to be pulling those little kids behind him. The whole composition feels like a poem—visual kyoka, maybe? Curator: Exactly! The kyoka poems integrated into the prints add layers of meaning, creating dialogues between image and text. These speak to the times, the lives, and the very essence of being. Editor: Looking at it now, I get a sense of fleeting moments, of stories unfolding quietly in the background of a bustling city. I wonder what Hiroshige wanted us to feel.