A View of the Pleasures of the Taiko and His Five Wives at Rakutō

A View of the Pleasures of the Taiko and His Five Wives at Rakutō

Kitagawa Utamaro

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This triptych, published in 1804, portrays the famous cherry-blossom viewing party that Hideyoshi held in 1598. Ostensibly an innocent historical scene, its subject, the shogun whose heirs were overthrown by the ancestors of the ruling Yokugawa family was full of significance to the townsmen of Edo, who chafed under the restrictive and corrupt government. For his defiance of the official of ineffectual ban on this theme, Utamaro was jailed and spent fifty days in hand chains. This, combined with the extreme loss of inspiration and support he suffered with the death in 1797 of his friend and publisher Tatsuya, seems to have broken his spirit. Utamaro's final years are not represented by prints of the quality that marks the dazzling designs of the 1780's and 90's.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A View of the Pleasures of the Taiko and His Five Wives at RakutōA View of the Pleasures of the Taiko and His Five Wives at RakutōA View of the Pleasures of the Taiko and His Five Wives at RakutōA View of the Pleasures of the Taiko and His Five Wives at RakutōA View of the Pleasures of the Taiko and His Five Wives at Rakutō

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.