Gods disguised as prospective customers of a brothel (demons disguised as brothel customers)

Utagawa Yoshiiku, artist

1833–1904

Gods disguised as prospective customers of a brothel (demons disguised as brothel customers), 1860, Edo period (1600–1868)

Where object was made: Japan

Material/technique: color woodcut

Dimensions:
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): each: 368.3 x 247.7 mm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 14 1/2 x 9 3/4 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 20 x 25 in

Credit line: Gift of H. Lee Turner

Accession number: 1968.0001.299.a,b

Not on display

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Archive Label date unknown:
Troublesome demons, or oni, are dressed as colorful, young samurai browsing through the pleasure district of Asakusa in Edo. Courtesans peer from their brothel house lattice, waiting for customers to visit. Yoshiiku may well have been humorously suggesting the true nature of the fashionable dandies who frequented the brothels and theaters.

Archive Label date unknown:
In the world of satire, how can an "oni" be a true Edo dandy without a visit to a brothel? In Yoshiiku's diptych, four "oni" dressed as noblemen and samurai unabashedly peruse two courtesans displaying their finery behind the "viewing window." The "oni" posing as dandies show the less than gallant nature of fashionable gentlemen.