Overview of the Exhibition

In 1948, Kyoto’s Uemura Shōen (1875–1949) was the first female to receive the Order of Culture. Six years later, Tokyo’s Kaburaki Kiyokata (1878–1972) received the same award. Together, they had established the modern bijin-ga style. Kiyokata’s vision, however, inheriting a rich legacy of aesthetic sense handed down from the Edo period, was steeped in Edo-city ukiyo-e traditions. These diverged from Shōen’s meticulous elegance. It is thus possible to trace two bijin-ga trajectories, one from Shōen and the other from Kiyokata.
In 2025, during a time of rising interest in Edo publishing and ukiyo-e, Saga Arashiyama Museum of Arts and Culture has carefully selected works to contrast original feudal-period ukiyo-e paintings from Edo city with those created in Kyoto. The focus is on performing arts such as song, dance, and music, the flowering arts that colored the floating world where people sought excitement and joy.


Section 1. Beauties Flourish in an Unbound Floating World
Ukiyo-e literally means floating-world picture.
Originally a Buddhist term, ukiyo denoted a sad world of grief and worry. In time, the main meaning referred to a world in motion, wavering like floating weeds. During the settled, peaceful days of the Edo period, the word became associated with hedonistic respite from every-day worries. Eventually, the floating world came to refer, even, to an exciting joyful space in which the heart could flutter.
Ukiyo-e celebrated the common people's hunger for amusement and shared enjoyment. Edo-period people hungered for a distinctive euphoria often expressed in ukiyo-e images. While woodblock prints, transformed from paintings, are well known, here you can see actual hand-painted originals. Some were specially commissioned and not reproduced. These images are rarer and less often seen. Ukiyo-e and Edo publishing have been attracting unbound attention recently. Responding to this interest, we are showing all the hand-painted ukiyo-e held in the Fukuda Collection. Come and re-live the joy and beauty of Edo’s floating world.


Section 2. Ukiyo Beauties: Dreams Performed and Portrayed
While ukiyo-e pictures cover different themes, in the art business both prints and paintings had to generate income. Artists had to make a living, but woodblock printing also involved a publisher and the refined skills of engravers and printers. Hoping for a hit, the publishers typically commissioned works they thought would sell well. The most popular images were shibai-e (stage scenes). Famous scenes from kabuki, jōruri, and other theatrical works generated reliable income.
Famous courtesans of Yoshiwara and other red-light districts also became subjects for ukiyo-e. These women, the celebrities of their day, were not easily encountered. If they were known for plucking the shamisen, dancing, or other art, in ukiyo-e portrayal, an effort was made to acknowledge their skill.
Painted in this tradition, depicting themes such as storybook heroines, courtesans, geisha and maiko, and Japanese dance. Modern bijin-ga are also on show. The works are arranged thematically so that you can explore and enjoy their appeal.

Exhibition Information

Artwork

Gion Seitoku《Geiko》

Utagawa Kunisada《Standing Beauty》

Toba Hiromaru《Standing Beauty》

Gessai Gabimaru《Three Beautiful Women Playing Sugoroku》

Maruyama Ōkyo《Beautiful Woman》

Chōbunsai Eisi《Beautiful Woman Enjoying Firefly Catching》

Uemura Shōen《A Toast to the Blossom》

Kurihara Gyokuyō《Oshichi-0some》

Ōbayashi Chimaki《Hanagasa Dance》