Floating World

1. �Floating World� Ukiyo-e 1615-1868 'Living only for the moment, turning our full attention to the pleasures of the moon, sun, the cherry blossoms and the maple leaves, singing songs, drinking wine, and diverting ourselves just in floating, floating."

2. Edo in the Tokugawa period The floating world referred to the escapist lifestyle and ephemeral pleasures offered in Edo's kabuki theaters and the Yoshiwara, a licensed brothel district on the northern outskirts of the city. With star actors and glamorous courtesans as their primary subjects, ukiyo-e artists conveyed the intricate nuances of the floating world to an appreciative and diverse clientele. Being especially attuned to popular pastimes and pursuits, they also exploited the public's love of travel and its fascination with samurai history. By the early nineteenth century, the repertoire of floating world images included landscapes and warrior prints. as well as illustrated books and prints for children.

3. Yoshiwara During the early years of the 17th century, the Shogun Hideyoshi and later Tokugawa authorities in Kyoto, Edo, and Osaka passed reforms that licensed and consolidated brothels into a single area of the city which was initially remote from the center. In Kyoto this quarter became known as the Shimabara; in Osaka, the Shimmachi; and in Edo, the Yoshiwara. Although all three quarters were organized in the same basic fashion, it was the name yoshiwara that became synonymous with the concept of a "pleasure quarter.� The brothels were surrounded by earthen walls, and in Kyoto, a moat three meters wide. A single entrance gate ensured surveillance of those entering the quarter in an attempt at preventing ronin, masterless samurai, from seeking refuge within. The intent was also to prevent prostitutes from plying their trade outside the walls of the designated precincts of the city. Business districts for the supporting trades and other forms of entertainment rapidly developed around the designated districts, and this secluded quarter of the city, free of the traditional class distinctions, was governed by a free-market economy under standards and ethics developed by its residents.

4. Back Alleys in Edo

5. Yoshiwara girls on display

6. A life less fortunate The Yoshiwara was home to some 1,750 women in the 1700s, with records of some 3,000 women from all over Japan at one time. The area had over 9,000 women, many of whom suffered from syphilis, in 1893. These women were often sold to the brothels by their parents at the age of about seven to twelve. If the young girl was lucky, she would become an apprentice to a high ranking courtesan. When the girl was old enough and had completed her training, she would become a courtesan herself and work her way up the ranks. The girls often had a contract to the brothel for only about five to ten years, but massive debt often kept them in the brothels their entire life. There were very few ways for a young lady to get out of the brothel due to all of her debt.

7. Yoshiwara in 2006

8. The "floating world" was a refuge from the rigid, hierarchical society of feudal Japan. For the artist it brought a degree of freedom of association and expression unheard of in highly polished and defined classical traditions.

9. For the merchant, the "nightless cities" were the only arena where his money bought a measure of social equality. Outside its narrow confines, the merchant was the lowest of the low -- according to official Confucian philosophy, a mere "mover of goods," who ranked below the artisan, the peasant and the samurai. In a social order in which every aspect of life was formally prescribed in written codes, only the samurai was allowed to have a surname and to carry two swords. A merchant may have been rich but he had no political status or power and was subject to the arbitrary whims of the shogun and daimyo. It was only in Yoshihara and the other licenced quarters that the merchant could entertain lavishly and forge alliances with layers of the samurai class who lacked money but still retained a far higher social standing.

10. Theatre Tea Houses

11. Kabuki Origins Kabuki came into existence around 1603 with the arrival in Kyoto of a troupe of dancing girls led by a certain Izumo-no-Okuni, formerly a shrine maiden. Their dances created a sensation and were labelled "Kabuki" which, at that time, meant "unorthodox" or "eccentric". Such troupes of women were subsequently banned as were those of the dancing boys that took their place. They were succeeded by groups of adult men whose performances developed into Kabuki as it now exists

12. Kabuki and Onnagata

13. Aragato and Wagato

14. Kabuki performance in 1860

15. Bunraku Bunraku is a form of traditional Japanese puppet theater, founded in Osaka in 1684 Three kinds of performers take part in a bunraku performance: Puppeteers the chanters Shamisen players In the mid 18th century, kabuki fell out of favor for a time, with bunraku taking its place as the premier form of stage entertainment among the lower social classes

16. Noh Theatre

17. Noh Masks Several types of masks, in particular those for female roles, are designed so that slight adjustments in the position of the head can express a number emotions such as fear or sadness due to the variance in lighting and the angle shown towards the audience. With some of the more extravagant masks for deities and monsters, however, it is not always possible to convey emotion.

18. Changing emotions

19. The cha-shitsu 'teahouse,' soan 'tea hut,' or zashiki 'tea room,' was a place to leave all of the world's turmoil behind, and to enter a place of total calm and relaxation. The cha-shitsu could be a small stand-alone structure, or an attached tea-room, with a tatami floor. Tea houses were built primarily by daimyo (feudal lords), Samurai warriors, wealthy merchants, Zen Buddhist monks. The small guest's entrance-door (below, left) called a 'nijiriguchi' or nijiri agariguchi is a 'wriggle-in' or 'crawl-through' entrance with a standardized measurement of 65cm tall, by 60cm wide

20. Tea Houses of the Tokugawa period

21. Tea Ceremony

22. Woodblock print process

23. Early pictures

24. The Golden Age The second Edo Culture boom occured during the Tenmei era (1781-1789). The Tenmei culture is a product of townspeople, and they enjoyed the elaborate festivals of the years. The kabuki stage and pleasure quarters flourished in Edo

25. �One Hundred Views of Edo�

26. Age of Decadence The Golden Age of Edo culture came to an end with a strict reform called Kansei Reform, and the Age of Decadence arrived. The major concerns among the Shogunate were foreign affairs, instead of national policies. There was an increasingly frequent menace of foreign intrusion. The freshness of the earlier cultural life was lost, and all feelings of freedom and mental detachment were swept away. An over-complex and twisted sort of art was welcomed, and people enjoyed this new type of culture. The culture continued until the end of the Edo period.

27. Kansei Reforms The Kansei Reform was the second reform among three reforms conducted during the Tokugawa period. The government strictly controlled public morals, thoughts, lives and choice of studies. They punished anyone who, the government thought, corrupted public morals, and many novelists were punished during the reform. Even after the failure, the government still continued controlling the public morals, and they began to punish ukiyoe artists who drew the topics which, the government thought, would corrupt the public morals. Artists were forced to change their topics and felt that they lost their freedom. Some had their hands placed in chains for 50 days