The Floating World of Ukiyo-e Prints: Images of a Japanese Counterculture
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Asian Institute of Research, Journal Publication, Journal Academics, Education Journal, Asian Institute
Asian Institute of Research, Journal Publication, Journal Academics, Education Journal, Asian Institute

Journal of Social and Political

Sciences

ISSN 2615-3718 (Online)

ISSN 2621-5675 (Print)

asia insitute of research, journal of social and political sciences, jsp, aior, journal publication, humanities journal, social journa
asia insitute of research, journal of social and political sciences, jsp, aior, journal publication, humanities journal, social journa
asia insitute of research, journal of social and political sciences, jsp, aior, journal publication, humanities journal, social journa
asia insitute of research, journal of social and political sciences, jsp, aior, journal publication, humanities journal, social journa
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doi
open access

Published: 09 September 2019

The Floating World of Ukiyo-e Prints: Images of a Japanese Counterculture

James W. Ellis

Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong

journal of social and political sciences
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doi

10.31014/aior.1991.02.03.113

Pages: 701-718

Keywords: Ukiyo-e, Japanese Art, Woodblock Print, Tokugawa, Courtesan, Kabuki

Abstract

Ukiyo-e, or “pictures of the floating world,” were woodblock prints that, among other subjects, depicted the “women of pleasure” and Kabuki actors of Japan’s Edo Period pleasure quarters. The pleasure quarters, or yukaku, were popular gathering places for the chonin, or urban working class. This essay contextualizes ukiyo-e images of courtesans, geishas, and Kabuki actors, and discusses how such countercultural artworks often came into conflict with the ruling Tokugawa shogunate’s dominate social order. The essay also includes a brief discussion of historical relations between eastern ukiyo-e art and differing western traditions. The essay concludes with a comparison of significant, related ukiyo-e and western modernist prints.

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