Twenty-four Illustrations of Poems of the Thirty-six Poets 1780 - 1800

Torii Kiyonaga created this woodblock print, now held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as part of a series illustrating poems by the Thirty-six Poets. Prints like this, known as ukiyo-e, were very much a product of their time and place: Japan’s Edo period, a time of relative peace and economic growth. Here, Kiyonaga depicts a group of women, likely courtesans, engaged in refined artistic pursuits – a common theme. The print hints at the culture of literary salons that was emerging, especially in urban centres like Edo. While seemingly apolitical, ukiyo-e prints played a significant role in shaping cultural identity and social values. They reflected the tastes and aspirations of a rising merchant class, who were eager to engage with the arts, but excluded from traditional elite culture. To understand the print fully, a social historian might explore the history of Japanese poetry, the role of women in artistic production, and the economics of the ukiyo-e print market. In this way, the meaning of art is contingent on its social and institutional context.