Artist:Utagawa Hiroshige
Medium: Woodblock print
Geograhical Locations:
Dates:12th month of 1857
Dimensions: 14 1/16 x 9 1/2in. (35.7 x 24.1cm) Sheet: 14 3/16 x 9 1/4 in. (36 x 23.5 cm) Image: 13 3/8 x 8 3/4 in. (34 x 22.2 cm)
Collections:
Exhibitions:
Accession Number: 39.581
Image: 39.581_PS20.jpg,
Catalogue Description: A scene of the Oumayagashi ferry at the west bank of the Sumida River. There is an overprinting of yellow-green on the shore and at right the leaves of an evergreen oak and the grass below reflect an eerie green glow against this somber background. The two women in the bow of the ferry are yotaka ("night hawks"), the lowest class of street prostitute in Edo, on their way to work. In Hiroshige's time, yotaka had fixed places of operation, most often in lumber-storage sheds or in makeshift stalls that merchants used during the day. Their faces are shown with the thick lips and pug noses for which they were known. Many were disfigured by disease which they would hide with thick make-up. They lived in hovels along back canals in the Honjo district and catered to drunken tradesmen and violence-prone samurai underlings. Oumayagashi means "horse stable landing," after the shogunal stables that were located here until the 1690's. The Oumayagashi ferry was replaced in 1874 by Umaya Bridge, which was rebuilt in 1893 a short distance from its present location.