Utagawa Kuniyoshi’s ‘Village Sparrows: Temporary Shelter in the Nest’

Описание: Candles glow behind a lattice. Sparrows crowd the street.
This is Yoshiwara, briefly rehoused in temporary shelters after its seventeenth fire in 1845.

At the corner, several men pass by with towels draped over their shoulders or heads, until curiosity slows their steps. Between them, a mother carries a child whose beak opens as if asking a question. She doesn’t answer. Her eyes are fixed on the room ahead.

She isn’t the only woman lingering. Two others stand face to face, hands raised mid-conversation. Following their gaze, we see a vendor selling sweets to a kamuro marked with Kuniyoshi’s hōtō-in seal. Kuniyoshi had a six-year-old daughter named Tori, ‘bird’ — perhaps she fluttered into this scene.

Nearby, a man with his head partly covered leans toward an oiran, a kiseru pipe in hand, likely her keepsake. His clothing recalls the tale ‘Tongue-Cut Sparrow’, where a small basket offered in gratitude turns out to hold treasure. Here too, something small carries something precious.

Inside, three well-dressed oiran sit on a red carpet. Two are accompanied by their kamuro, while the central figure gazes forward with quiet generosity, perhaps indulging her kamuro with sweets. To the right sit five shinzō. Most remain composed, but one leans forward, beak wide open, as if calling out.

In front, two more oiran — one standing, one seated — look outward toward the crowd. What lies behind their silence?

Outside again, a skilful sparrow balances a tray table on his head, delivering delicacies with ease. Behind him, a gannin-bōzu with a pewter staff eyes a well-dressed man as women on both sides try to lure him. He remains unmoved. Another passerby isn’t so lucky — two women, likely shop girls, tug and smile, making escape unlikely.

Nearby, two girls chat as if making plans, while a third watches the food carrier carefully, mindful not to block his path. Two samurai stride past, laughing and talking. One raises his folding fan, beak open mid-exclamation; the other laughs freely. Perhaps it’s been a good day.

To the right, a karintō vendor advertises with an oversized lantern. Behind him, four kago carriers hurry past, one showing off a dramatic dragon tattoo. A flower-hairpin seller assists two girls nearby.

This is Utagawa Kuniyoshi’s ‘Village Sparrows: Temporary Shelter in the Nest’, published in 1846.

At the time, strict regulations limited which human figures could appear in prints. Kuniyoshi’s solution was elegant: he turned everyone into sparrows, drawing on the phrase ‘Yoshiwara suzume’, used for those who knew the pleasure quarter’s inner workings.

He even weaves censorship into the image. Every print required approval from town elders, marked by a censor’s seal known as an aratame-in. Here, the ‘Wata’ seal of Watanabe Shōemon appears stamped on the backs of two sparrows, transformed from bureaucratic requirement into visual detail.

Seen as a whole, this work goes beyond wordplay or humour. It shows how constraint can spark invention, and how coexistence — rather than resistance — can give rise to something quietly rich and observant.

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Utagawa Kuniyoshi
歌川国芳
Village Sparrows: Temporary Shelter in the Nest
里すずめねぐらの仮宿 (さとすずめねぐらのかりやど)
Published in 1846, Made in 1845
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