A couple making love beside a shamisen, a leaf from Unravelling the Threads of Desire (Negai no ito-guchi)
This is the final illustration from Utamaro’s erotic book Unravelling the Threads of Desire (Negai no ito-guchi), which comprises thirteen illustrations in total, each featuring couples making love in various settings. Here the young daughter of a townsman and her lover are captured in flagrante delicto. She has apparently had just finished performing on the samisen, an instrument associated with popular music of Kabuki and the demimonde of Edo period Japan. Merchant-class women in Edo period Japan also often took shamisen lessons, to enhance their marriage prospects or to prepare them for service in high-ranking samurai households. The texts surrounding the figures records the salacious dialogue of their lovemaking.
Artwork Details
- 喜多川歌麿画 ねがいの糸口
- Title: A couple making love beside a shamisen, a leaf from Unravelling the Threads of Desire (Negai no ito-guchi)
- Artist: Kitagawa Utamaro (Japanese, ca. 1754–1806)
- Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
- Date: 1799
- Culture: Japan
- Medium: Woodblock print (nishiki-e), from an illustrated erotic book (shunpon); ink and color on paper
- Dimensions: Horizontal ōban; image: 10 in. × 15 1/8 in. (25.4 × 38.4 cm)
Mat: 15 1/2 × 22 3/4 in. (39.4 × 57.8 cm) - Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Anonymous Gift, 1952
- Object Number: JP3163
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
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Kitagawa Utamaro (Japanese, ca. 1754–1806)
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