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The floating world
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'Lovers' by Chôki (ca. 1800)
In Middle Eastern countries hemp preparations are smoked or eaten as an
aphrodisiac. We don't know for sure however what this young couple had
in their pipes.
Whatever it was, it wasn't against the law then.
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One of the best-known of Utamaro's portraits of beauties. The
courtesan Hanaôgi from the Ôgiya (an establishment in the licensed
quarters of Edo) was extremely popular in her day as a person of
great cultivation and artistic accomplishment. Here we see her as a
private woman in her own right, pipe in hand,
spending a relaxing moment between clients.
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One of Utamaro's "Portraits of Beauties" in which the face and
upper body of the subject are made to fill the whole frame, a
characteristic of this master portrayer of beauty. This picture
presents an everyday scene of a woman looking downwards as she
cleans her pipe with a twist of paper,
conveying an air of languid tedium.
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'Mistress in Mosquito net' by Yoshitoshi (1826-1902). Mosquito nets
made from silk or hemp are an old and effective way of keeping out
mosquitos which plague people especially during the hot and humid
Japanese summer. They have been in use since medieval times and are
still used by some people up to this day.
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This lacquerware comb once belonged to a female member of the household
of a wealthy merchant during the Edo era (National Museum, Tokyo)
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