A Visit to the Yoshiwara

This handscroll presents fifteen scenes of Yoshiwara, Edo’s only officially licensed pleasure district. The tenth one unfolds in the kitchen of a high-class ageya (restaurant and entertainment house), where attendants reach into a tub to prepare fish and seafood while two chefs clean and cut fish using chopsticks and knives at low worktables. This depiction offers a rare glimpse into food preparation in an ageya, as well as the ceramic and lacquer vessels that supported this culinary culture.