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Net Fishing at Night on the Sumida River
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Net Fishing at Night on the Sumida River

Kitagawa Utamaro (Japanese, c. 1754–1806), artist · c. 1800 · Triptych of color woodblock prints

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.

About this work

In this triptych (a composition of three prints), a nighttime drinking party on a pleasure boat is interrupted by an encounter with a fishing boat on the Sumida River in Edo (now Tokyo). A young man in a bold, checked robe distributes lacquer dishes of sake to his female companions, while another man sits on the boat’s roof, peering at the fisherman’s net. The fisherman struggles to control the net as a woman in the party boat offers her sake dish, her robe pulled open at the neck to enjoy the evening cool.

Cleveland Museum of Art’s own description
Credit lineNet Fishing at Night on the Sumida River, c. 1800. Kitagawa Utamaro (Japanese, c. 1754–1806). Triptych of color woodblock prints; overall: 38.6 x 25.4 cm (15 3/16 x 10 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Wade, 1916.1116

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