Born into a samurai family and later bec...

Kunisada studied under Toyokuni I from a...

A pupil of Toyokuni I, skilled in perspe...

A pupil of Kunisada (Toyokuni III) and a...

Kuniyoshi studied under Toyokuni I and r...

Entered the studio of Utagawa Toyoharu a...

A pupil of Kuniyoshi active across genre...

Both an artist and a publisher who intro...

Trained under Shunei; known for beauties...

A pupil of Katsukawa Shunshō who admired...

Studied under Katsukawa Shunshō and crea...

Self-taught in painting and calligraphy ...

Studied under Toriyama Sekien, a pioneer...

Artist, writer and brothel-keeper, stron...

Orphaned and temple-raised, he became a ...

A high-ranking hatamoto (samurai) known ...

Active in beauty portraits and book illu...

Often called the “founder of ukiyo-e,” M...

A pupil of Hishikawa Moronobu who follow...

Hokusai’s pupil and adopted son, known f...

Multi-colour printing using several colo...

A secret name an artist used on shunga (...

Witty, incisive observation; in erotica ...

An erotic book, also called wa-jirushi o...

A composition showing the face and upper...

An explicit close-up of the female genit...

Text written into the margins—characters...

A set or series of images; ketsudai mean...

A “mechanical book” whose images open ou...

Shunga is a genre of Japanese art that f...

An erotic book; used interchangeably wit...

Sex toys and aphrodisiacs. Hokusai’s Man...

Slang for the female genitals....

The “large-head” beauty portrait; Utamar...

The woman-on-top form of mukudori; cited...

Prints that avoid red pigments in favour...

A colloquial term for the female genital...

Other names for shunga and erotic books;...

An archaic word for sexual union....

A popular Edo genre of “little-man stori...

A colloquial term for the male genitals....

Slang for the mutual oral position (“six...

The deity of conjugal harmony (originall...

Slang for erotic books (makura-zōshi); t...

Other names for shunga and erotic books—...

Gradation worked directly on the block f...

Ukiyo-e using Western linear perspective...

The word ukiyo originally meant “the sor...

Prints given a lacquer-like gloss....

Embossing that raises a pattern in the w...

Luxurious printing using gold and silver...

Monochrome woodblock prints produced usi...

Full multi-block colour woodblock printi...

Early hand-coloured prints using red-lea...

Hand-colouring applied to a monochrome p...

Pictures painted directly by brush rathe...

Multi-colored woodblock prints developed...

A tall, narrow format for pasting on pil...

Prints hand-coloured with safflower red ...

Prints hand-coloured with safflower red ...

An early multi-colour stage printed with...

An intermediate format between ōban and ...

A horizontal handscroll viewed by unroll...

A large print format....

A large book format....

A folding (concertina) album....

An album or accordion format mounting pi...

A small book....

A long narrow format, named for poem-sli...

A fragment cut from a scroll or album....

A medium print format....

The frontispiece picture opening a book....

A half-paper book format, common for ero...

A miniature format....

A landscape (wide) book format; the koba...

1772–1781....

1854–1860....

Roughly the late 18th–19th century....

Roughly the 17th century; here, works by...

Roughly the early-to-mid 18th century....

1848–1855....

1748–1751....

1789–1801; the Kansei Reforms brought su...

Reforms whose sumptuary laws cracked dow...

Shogunal reforms after which erotic book...

1801–1804....

1864–1865; Kunisada died in Genji 1 (186...

1688–1704; Moronobu died in Genroku 7 (1...

Laws restricting luxury, under which uki...

1711–1716....

1684–1688....

1681–1684....

1830–1844....

1781–1789....

1804–1818....

1861–1864....

1818–1830....

1751–1764....

1868–1912; Koikawa Shōzan died in Meiji ...

1764–1772....

A high-ranking Yoshiwara courtesan....

A house that retained courtesans and gei...

A lending library that toured customers’...

A mosquito net—shorthand in shunga for a...

A temporary brothel licensed to operate ...

A woman who entertained with music and d...

A writer of popular Edo fiction (gesaku)...

A simplified court robe (a lighter jūnih...

A purple priestly robe granted by the em...

An iridescent green-to-red sheen, charac...

Originally an infant; later a temple pag...

A teahouse; also a place to meet courtes...

A teahouse used for clandestine trysts....

An Edo box-pillow; often shown overturne...

A high-ranking samurai in direct service...

A small pouch for cosmetics, with tissue...

A summer reed mat, its checks signalling...

A publisher of prints and books (e.g., T...

An Edo pleasure district; the setting of...

Safflower rouge; built up in layers it g...

A Portuguese-derived confection (from bo...

A courtesan’s true lover, met off the cl...

A courtesan working in the quarters....

A stylish look with a comb worn sideways...

Prints depicting the newly opened port o...

Edo’s licensed pleasure quarter; when it...

A Ryōgoku shop specialising in sex toys ...

An Edo restaurant serving food, often wi...

A masterless samurai; Koryūsai was one b...

The mythical “Floating Bridge of Heaven”...

The creator deities of Japanese myth who...

The Muromachi–Edo painting school whose ...

Comic and satirical waka; Shigenobu also...

Picture-led popular booklets; illustrate...

Murasaki Shikibu’s classic, often refere...

Ihara Saikaku’s novel; Moronobu illustra...

Tamenaga Shunsui’s popular ninjōbon, dra...

The Chinese tale; Kuniyoshi’s prints of ...

Short colloquial verse on manners and fe...

Bakin’s epic novel; Yanagawa Shigenobu i...

Late-Edo popular fiction of love and fee...

Hokusai’s famous series of landscape pri...

Hokusai’s sketchbooks and drawing manual...

Moronobu’s masterpiece, familiar from te...

Noh chant texts; Shūgen Iro-naoshi took ...

Romantic, often fantastical long novels;...

An illustrated Edo encyclopedia; it reco...

Author of Life of an Amorous Man and oth...

An old Edo publishing house that issued ...

A leading Edo cultural figure and satiri...

Founder of the Katsukawa school; teacher...

A Heian courtier-poet; linked to the Ōsh...

A gesaku writer; his pupil Jūjitei Sanku...

A gesaku writer; author of Shunshoku Ume...

The celebrated Edo publisher who worked ...

The founding figure of yōkai illustratio...

A publisher who, with Tsutaya, issued Hi...