Japan: 'The Hour of the Boar'-I no koku< / i>-(c. 10pm–Midnight). Utamaro Kitagawa (1753-1806), c. 1794-1795.

During the Edo period (1603 - 1868), the Japanese clock was divided into twelve units of time, or ‘hours’, with each one named after one of the zodiacal symbols of the lunar calendar, and with the day being divided up into six daytime hours and six night-time hours. This woodblock print is taken from Kitagawa Utamaro's 1794-1795 ukiyo-e series 'Twelve Hours of the Green Rooms', sometimes styled 'Twelve Hours of the Yoshiwara', featuring everyday events in the lives of courtesans in Edo's Yoshiwara pleasure district. It is the Hour of the Boar, around ten o’clock in the evening. This scene takes place in a banquet room of the house. The courtesan, very dignified, holds out ceremoniously a cup of sake to a customer. In striking contrast her young assistant, leaning on the sake kettle, can no longer resist her fatigue at this late hour and falls asleep.

Album / Pictures from History/Universal Images Group

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3270 x 5100 px | 47.7 MB

27.7 x 43.2 cm | 10.9 x 17.0 in (300 dpi)