Pleasure Boats on the Sumida River beneath Shin-Ōhashi Bridge

Pleasure Boats on the Sumida River beneath Shin-Ōhashi Bridge

Chōbunsai Eishi

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This print illustrates the great festival that marked the beginning of the summer season on the Sumida River. In a large, roofed boat (yakata-bune) at the center of the composition, a group of beauties is watching a young woman controlling a dancing puppet, while other female entertainers play music. In another boat, a man is shown slicing up a large fish for an onboard banquet. Chōbunsai Eishi, born into a samurai family, studied under Kano Eisen’in Sukenobu (1730–1790), the fifth-generation head of Kobikichō, one of the four Kano painting academies in Edo.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Pleasure Boats on the Sumida River beneath Shin-Ōhashi BridgePleasure Boats on the Sumida River beneath Shin-Ōhashi BridgePleasure Boats on the Sumida River beneath Shin-Ōhashi BridgePleasure Boats on the Sumida River beneath Shin-Ōhashi BridgePleasure Boats on the Sumida River beneath Shin-Ōhashi Bridge

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.