Prince Genji Visits the Gankirō Tea House — Kunisada & Kunitoki, 1860

源氏港の写絵 岩亀楼 — 歌川国貞・歌川国時、1860年

Yokohama, 1860. Japan has just opened its doors to the world — and the legendary Gankirō teahouse stands at the heart of it all. 🌸

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A Rare Collaboration

In May 1860 (Man'en 1), master woodblock artist Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III, 三代歌川豊国) and his pupil Utagawa Kunitoki joined brushes to create this breathtaking large-format triptych (ōban sanmai-tsuzuki, 大判三枚続). It is one of the rarest collaborative masterpieces in Ukiyo-e history — a teacher and student working side by side on a single composition. ⛩️

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The World of Genji-e

This work belongs to the genre of genji-e (源氏絵) — prints that reimagined the world of Prince Genji through the fashions and settings of the Edo period. The genre exploded in popularity following the bestselling novel Nise Murasaki Inaka Genji (偐紫田舎源氏) by Ryūtei Tanehiko, whose hero Ashikaga Mitsuuji — modeled on the legendary Hikaru Genji — became a symbol of glamour and romantic intrigue. 🎴

Here, that fictional world collides with a very real and very contemporary setting: the Gankirō (岩亀楼), the most celebrated establishment of the Miyozaki pleasure quarter (港崎遊郭) in newly opened Yokohama.

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The Gankirō — Yokohama's Most Legendary Teahouse

The Gankirō opened in the wake of Japan's 1859 treaty-port opening, and quickly became one of the most talked-about establishments of the era — a place where the old world of Edo elegance met the exotic new frontier of international Yokohama. To set a genji-e here was a bold and brilliant artistic choice: fiction and reality colliding in silk, lacquer, and lantern light. 🪭

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In the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

This triptych is held in the permanent collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York — a testament to its enduring significance as both a work of art and a historical document of Japan's most dramatic transformation. 🌸

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