Lovers
Isoda Koryūsai Japanese
Not on view
The poem in Chinese on this print conceals a light eroticism much as the komusō priest costume with its basket-like hat (seen under the woman's arm) conceals the lovers on their way to the tryst that this print depicts.
The study of Chinese classics and poetry was a major part of an elite education in Japan for many centuries. With the new affluence and economic clout of the merchant class at this time, merchant sons (and daughters to a more limited extent) were also taught in academies in Osaka and around the country. Both samurai and merchant scholars wrote poems in Chinese and read old anthologies. Chinese poetry seemed especially suited for encoding political and occasionally, erotic meanings within lyrics innocuous at first glance.
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