Fishing Fire from Mitate go-gyo (Parodies on the Five Elements, 見たて五行 火 かゞり火)

This print depicting a female model siting under a lanterned tree looking at a pond of eels and catfish is part of a series depicting young women playing by the sea by prolific artist Utagawa Kuniyoshi and is thought to be an advertisement for silk fabrics.The ease of isolationist policies during mid-eighteenth century Japan allowed Japanese artists to encounter European artistic styles, this gave way to the merging of European and Japanese visual techniques. This print veers away from the traditional flatness of ukyio-e prints in that the landscape surrounding the model has an unusual three dimensionality, as if shot with a photographic wide-lens. We have included it in the collection as a comparison to the gender performativity the actors in the plays portray.