Het Nieuwe Yoshiwara 1784 - 1788

Torii Kiyonaga created this woodblock print, Het Nieuwe Yoshiwara, in Japan sometime between 1775 and 1815. It shows us a scene from the Yoshiwara district, a government-sanctioned pleasure area in Edo, now Tokyo. The print offers a glimpse into the lives of courtesans, or "yūjo", who lived and worked in the district. During the Edo period, the Tokugawa shogunate tried to control society through strict class divisions and moral codes. Yet, places like Yoshiwara served as safety valves, where social norms could be bent and alternative cultures could flourish. Kiyonaga, as an artist, plays a key role in both documenting and shaping perceptions of this world. His prints are not just neutral records; they actively construct an image of Yoshiwara for public consumption. We can use historical documents and visual analysis to understand how this print reflects the complex social and political dynamics of the time.