Ashmolean Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

The ‘Floating World’ (ukiyo in Japanese) was the name given to the fashionable world of licensed brothels, tea houses, and kabuki theatres that thrived in the entertainment districts of the cities during the Edo period (1600-1868).

The Floating World became a great source of inspiration for new kinds of art – popular literature, theatre, fashion, and ukiyo-e, or ‘pictures of the floating world’. These were woodblock prints and paintings depicting the famous courtesans, actors, and entertainers of the time.

In the Floating World, money and taste were more important than class. Samurai from the ruling class were discouraged from visiting the entertainment districts, but many enjoyed escaping from the formalities of daily life. Merchants, officially the lowest in society and banned from showy displays of wealth, were free to spend their leisure time and their fortunes there as they wished.

The character Kogorō Hyōe at Umezu, between Ōiso and Odawara (EA1983.50)   The character Okoma at Ōmori, between Shinagawa and Kawasaki (EA1983.48)   The character Kanpei at Inohana, between Sakanoshita Tsuchiyama Kanpei (EA1983.49)   The character Benkei at Hashimoto, between Arai and Shirasuga (EA1983.51)   The character Matsuōmaru at Matsuno'o, between Tsuchiyama and Minakuchi (EA1983.100)