Shamisen Player

Utamaro was one of the most prolific and talented artists of eighteenth-century Japan. His name is synonymous with evocative studies of women of the licensed brothel quarters. Approximately 1,900 woodblock print designs bear his name; his paintings are rarer. This painting was probably done in the final decade of the artist's life.

Here the shamisen player is rendered in swirling, sinuous lines that surround the instrument, suggesting her intense concentration and mimicking the lines of calligraphy upon which the central meaning of this painting is dependent. The player's partially visible underrobe covered with cursive script of the Japanese hiragana syllabary underscores the theme of visible words.

Inscribed above the figure are two kyoka (literally "mad verse"), which are witty, satirical poems of thirty-one syllables that defy satisfactory translation. The poems here might be rendered as follows: "To hum light songs is the lady's habit; playing the shamisen is the delight of many guests," and "Even songs sung by a sweet voice will not raise the dust on the pillow of one who is thinking of her."

Kyoka were at the height of their popularity in the second half of the eighteenth century; however, the biting political commentary embedded in many caused authorities to ban the format. The works inscribed here are signed by a Kyokabutsu Todamaru, the nom de plume of an unidentified poet whom an early nineteenth century document lists as a prominent judge in poetry contests.

Utamaro was no stranger to the careful government search for seditious intent concealed in painting and poetry. For producing a satirical image of Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-1597), a revered national leader, he was charged with a violation of the censorship laws and suffered a debilitaing period of imprisonment in 1804.