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Katsukawa Shunsen

Japanese, 1762 - c.1830

A Depiction of the Life of Common People on the Ryogoko Bridge Crossing the Sumida River East of Downtown Edo, c. 1804-20
Published by Izumi Ichibei

Nishiki-e (color woodblock print)
Oban format, triptych

Museum Collection

Although Shunsen produced good work, mostly after the death of Utamaro, this particular image was printed from old worn blocks, and perhaps rather crudely drawn by a pupil. But it is brilliantly lusty and shows the colorful mingling of classes of people that existed in the entertainment district of Edo but rarely elsewhere in feudal Japan. There are courtesans both high and low, street vendors and entertainers, and somewhat more respectable types. The boy with the drum may be drumming up trade. There is a trained monkey and a man with a traveling concession. In this print, we get an overview of the vitality which allowed Ukiyo-e to exist in spite of the numbing effect of petrified hierarchies.
Under the fireworks and over the river, women and men create a synergistic relentless vitality, when brought together despite differences in rank and gender. The scene is almost Elizabethan in the excitement of its variety of types-as if a hierarchical society could especially dramatize the headiness of human mixing.



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