1861

Amusements of Foreigners at Yokohama in Bushū [Modern-Day Musashi] Province

Japanese, 1836 - 1887

Yoshitora combined images from his individual prints of scenes in and around Yokohama to create the fanciful composition of this woodcut triptych. The equestrian woman with the pineapple-crown hat and the man galloping on a horse followed by a Japanese groom are motifs commonly found in single prints. Additional activities depicted encompass foreigners using various forms of transportation, including a carriage labeled "an official going out;" women dancing in a Miyozaki brothel with two geishas playing music while seated, unusually, in chairs-customarily they would sit on the floor; and a kabuki theater performance in the left panel that remarkably includes stage attendants dressed in black who are intended to be "invisible" to the audience-by convention, they are typically omitted from Japanese prints of theater subjects.