Weighing the Goods of Love (Enshoku shinasadame) 艶色品定女

Utagawa Kunimori II 二代歌川国盛画

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A Fraudulent Murasaki’s Rustic Genji was a best seller of its day and engendered a boom in the popularity of woodblock prints on the subject. Less well known is that Rustic Genji also triggered a flood of erotic illustrated books (shunpon). Shown here is one of the most outrageous erotic versions of The Tale of Genji by Utagawa Kunisada’s pupil Utagawa Kunimori, with text by author and print artist Miyagi Gengyo (1817–1880), who signs himself Inraku Sanjin 婬楽山人, “Gentleman of Bawdy Pleasures.” The punning title refers to the “judgments on women” (shina sadame) episode in Chapter 2, “Broom Cypress,” of the original Genji. The phrase enshoku suggests that not only are their personal virtues being judged but so too are their sensual qualities.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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.

Metropolitan Museum of Art