The Nightly Boat Outing 1826

Totoya Hokkei's "The Nightly Boat Outing", now at the Rijksmuseum, transports us to the Japan of the late Edo period. Hokkei, who was a student of the great Hokusai, worked in a time when urban culture flourished, and prints like this one captured the fleeting pleasures of life. Here, we see figures of privilege, insulated by class, enjoying a moonlit boat ride. Consider the emotional landscape – the quiet thrill of a clandestine meeting, the soft lapping of water against the boat, the cold air. The print is rich in suggestion, hinting at the complex social rituals and hierarchies of the time. But I also see the potential for subversion. Is the woman poling the boat merely a servant, or does she hold a different kind of power? Hokkei invites us to consider the narratives that often go unacknowledged in more formal depictions of the elite. He asks us to look beyond the surface and see the individuals who navigate the currents of society, just as this boat navigates the water.