Utagawa Yoshitora

active ca. 1836-1887

View of the Kimpeiro Brothel in New Yoshiwara
(Shin Yoshiwara Kinpeiro no zu)

signed Yoshitora ga, with publisher's seal Nantenma Ni, Iseki (Iseya Kisaburo), combined censor and date seal Aratame mi juichi (approved, year of the snake [1869], 11th month)

dai oban tate-e triptych 14 5/8 by 9 7/8 in., 37.3 by 25 cm

This composition depicts the arrival of customers at the ornate front entrance of the Kimpeiro (or Kinpeiro, lit. 'golden jar') house, a brothel located in the Shin Yoshiwara pleasure district in Tokyo (having been recently renamed from Edo the previous year). On a balcony above are several resplendent courtesans attired in elaborately layered kimono and numerous hair ornaments peer over the edge of a Western-style balustrade in giddy anticipation of the evenings entertainments. Their names read from right to left are Immamurasaki, Syosyo, Kodayuu, Kofuji Murasaki, Kitatani, Takashima, Konakajyou, Shigemae, Morimurasaki, and Kinishima. The architecture of the house itself represents an amalgam of Japanese and foreign styles with details such as a Romanesque balustrade on the upper floors, glass window panes on French doors hung on hinges in lieu of traditional paper shoji sliding doors, and chandeliers in the form of Chinese-style lanterns which would been illuminated with either whale oil or candles.

This creative adaption of architectural styles and influences was not well-received by Sir Ernest Mason Satow (1843-1929), a British diplomat who described a visit to the house in his memoirs based on his time in Japan from 1862-1869:

"Towards nightfall it was proposed that we should visit the Kimpeiro, a hideous house furnished in what was regarded as European style, but we stayed there only a few minutes, and then returned to the house where we had first been entertained."
-Sir Ernest Mason Satow, Diplomat in Japan, 1921, p. 390

Reference:
Victoria & Albert Museum, London (collections.vam.ac.uk), museum no. E.271-1934 (only right sheet)
(inv. no. 10-2623)

price: Sold