This presentation offers a concise look at Japan during the Edo period, focusing on its vibrant entertainment district and cultural dynamics. It covers art, literature, theater, and daily life, highlighting the emergence of ukiyo-e prints and societal influences.

1. Department of English
Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University
Date: 6 April 2024
Exploring the ‘Floating
World’: Understanding
Edo Period Japan
Sem 2 | Batch 2023-25
Aakash Chavda

2. Exploring the ‘Floating
World’: Understanding
Edo Period Japan
Prepared by Aakash Chavda

3. Academic Information
● Presented by - Aakash Chavda
● Roll No. - 1
● Paper: 107 - The Twentieth Century Literature: 1950 to 2000
● Topic - Exploring the ‘Floating World’: Understanding Edo Period Japan
● Submitted To - S. B. Gardi, Department of English, M.K.B.U.
● E-mail Id - aakashchavda637@gmail.com

4. Points to Ponder
● Introduction to Ukiyo-e
● Origins of the Floating World
● Key Elements of the Floating World
● Yoshiwara District
● Yoshiwara Resonates in Pop Culture
● Ukiyo-e: Instagram of Edo Period Japan
● Influence and Legacy of Ukiyo-e
● Ukiyo-e in Modern Times
● Conclusin

5. Introduction: Ukiyo-e
● Ukiyo-e is a Japanese term usually translated into English as “Pictures of The Floating
World”
● This term is used to refer to woodblock prints that depicted the libertines denizens of
pleasure district, such as courtesans and kabuki actors of Edo Period.
● The floating world was an expression of the new economy and social ambition of the
common townspeople of Edo period Japan. (Ellis)
● The urban-middle class, known as Chonin- “Person of Town” were the primary patrons of
Ukiyo-e woodblock prints.
● The term Ukiyo-e has three Japanese character - 浮世絵.
First character, 浮 (Uki) , can be translated as “Float”
Second character, 世 (yo) , can be translated as “World”
Third character, 絵 (e) , can be translated as “picture”, “painting” or “print”
(Fiorillo)

6. Alternative Meaning of Ukiyo
● However, before Edo period, there was another term used to writer Ukiyo - 憂世, which
means “sorrow”, “grief”, “distress” or “melancholy”.
● This alternative term for Ukiyo can be translated as “sorrowful world”.
● Buddhist literature of Japan’s Heian period (794-1185), used this term to describe the
melancholy and sorrow toward the transience of everyday life and inevitable loss of
beauty. (Ellis)
● By the Edo period, the chonin, rarely used Ukiyo to express the laments of life, rather
they used the term Ukiyo to refer joys of everyday life.
● Utagawa Hiroshige and Katsushika Hokusai were the last great masters of Japan’s
landscape Ukiyo-e tradition.
● Hokusai’s thirty six views of mount fuji, which included “The Great Wave”, and
Hiroshige’s fifty-three station of the tokaido were the famous landscape Ukiyo-e
woodblock prints. (Fiorillo)

7. ● The Great Wave by Hokusai ● Meguro Drum Bridge and
Sunset Hill by Hiroshige

8. Question to Address
● To what extent did the presence of the 'Floating World' concept
influence the development of artistic expression and social
dynamics in Edo period Japan, particularly in relation to
entertainment districts, cultural practices, and societal
attitudes?

9. Origins of the Floating World
● The triumph and territorial consolidation achieved by Tokugawa Ieyasu laid the
foundation for a formidable new government.
● It was a period of peace and prosperity, a vibrant urban culture developed in the
center of Edo as well as in Osaka and in Kyoto. (Coman)
● This period is often referred as “early modern” period of Japan, and divided into sub-
periods.
● Some of this superficial culture may be ascribed to the measures imposed by the
Tokugawa Shogunate.
● This was the period of extended peace, without warfare samurai class was bored.
● The merchant class, in particular, sought ways to relieve pent-up frustrations and
experience a sense of equality due to the rigid social hierarchy imposed upon them.

10. Key Elements of the Floating World
● Widespread urbanization began during the Edo Period, and throughout the history
the world’s largest cities have had designated entertainment and pleasure districts.
● These districts have fostered subcultures and created unconventional music,
theatre and literature. (Ellis)
● There were many categories in woodblock prints, which include historical scene,
landscapes, scenes of everyday life, kabuki theatre and tea houses and geisha
culture.
● Geishas were professional performers in traditional singing and dancing began to
rise in popularity during the Edo period in Japan.
● The appeal of geisha rested with the fact that they were sexually unavailable.
● Kabuki were the popular drama with stylized singing and dancing.
● Kabuki performances explored topics such as supernatural entities, courtesans, and
mythical creatures, which highlights the Buddhist notion of transitory nature.
(Lin)

11. Geisha preparing for an entertainment by Chobunsai Eishi

12. Interior view of kabuki theatre by Utagawa Toyokuni

13. Yoshiwara District
● For social regulation Tokugawa Shogun created specific areas for pleasure related
activities.
● Yoshiwara was infamous red-light district of Edo, which established in 1617.
● A city within city, where one could indulge endlessly in pleasure without judgement,
merchants and samurais were treated equally here. (Lin)
● Yoshiwara was a cluster of shops, fashionable teahouses, theaters, and over one
hundred government-sanctioned brothels.
● Yoshiwara was a home for 4000 sex workers. From elite tayu and oiran to the lower
class sex workers, they arrived in the Yoshiwara between the ages of seven and twelve
as enslaved servants to the brothels, having been sold into bondage by their
impoverished parents.
● Ukiyo-e artists tended to distinguish yujo in their images according to their rank,
costumes, and more refined social tasks. (Ellis)
● After surviving a catastrophic fire in 1657, Yoshiwara was relocated to its present-day
location in Asakusa.
● The ‘floating world’ only came down to earth when the Anti-Prostitution Act of 1958
made prostitution illegal.

14. Scene in the Yoshiwara by Hishikawa Monorobu

15. ● The modern day Yoshiwara
shrine in Senzoku is one of
the few tangible reminders of
old Edo’s best-known red-light
district.

16. Yoshiwara Resonates in Pop Culture
● The unfathomable destruction of
Yoshiwara lent itself greatly to the
world of Demon Slayer, inspiring manga
artist Koyoharu Gotouge to make
pleasure district.
● Demon Slayer shows the flashiness of
Yoshiwara, an area once teeming with
life and pleasure.
● Daki, one of the two demons of the
arc, is an oiran (under the name
Warabihime) and, before she was
turned into a demon, was born and
raised in Yoshiwara itself. After she
was transformed into a demon, Daki
would then join various houses and go
under different names as she ate
other humans in the district.
(Harding)

17. ● Yoshiwara as
portrayed in the
Demon Slayer
anime.

18. Ukiyo-e: Instagram of Edo Period Japan
● One can better understand what life was like in the Edo period through Ukiyo-e
paintings.
● Ukiyo-e stimulated people’s desire much the same way as does our modern day mass
media does through newspaper and magazine. (Haruko)
● A style of woodblock prints that captured the glamour of the floating world, Ukiyo-e
featured beautiful women, kabuki actors, war heroes, landscape sceneries, erotic prints,
and all things popular.
● Later, simple prints became full colored Ukiyo-e paintings that were enjoyed by mass of
people.
● The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai remains one of the most iconic
Japanese artworks ever created.
● As Hokusai’s most famous work, The Great Wave has profoundly influenced Japanese
art works. (Lin)

19. Influence and Legacy of Ukiyo-e
● Isolation of Japan in Edo period, created the perfect circumstances to grow
Japanese art without any foreign elements in it.
● this isolation was soon disrupted when Commodore Matthew Perry of the United
States Navy forced his way into Japan, and this led to fall of Tokugawa dynasty.
(Lin)
● Japan started to reopen to the rest of the world, and its art and artifacts began to
make their way around the globe – and into the hands of artists open to being
inspired and influenced.
● Though, Japanese artists and French Impressionists lived in different times, they
both shared a common theme in their paintings, which is the scenes of everyday
life.
● French artist like Vincent Van Gogh, Edouard Manet, Camille Pissarro and Edgar
Degas were much influenced by the Japanese art and artist.
(Tresadern and Rüger)

20. Corner of a Cafe-Concert by Edouard Manet
● 'Japonisme' was a term coined to
describe the craze for Japanese prints
among Western artists, though Van
Gogh himself used the term
'Japonaiserie'.
● In letter to his brother, dated towards
the end of his life, the artist wrote,
'All my work is based to some extent on
Japanese art... Japanese art, in decline in its
own country, is taking new roots among
French Impressionist artists.'
(Tresadern and Rüger)

21. ● Sunshower at
Nihonbashi by
Utagawa
Hiroshige.
● Rain, Auvers by
VIncent Van
Gogh

22. Self-portrait with Bandaged Ear by Vincent Van Gogh Combing the Hair by Edgar Degas

23. Ukiyo-e in Modern Times
● Since the nineteenth century, the West has been influenced by the intricate
designs, creative arrangements, and beautiful colors of Japanese ukiyo-e
woodblock prints, which depict scenes from the "floating world."
● Today, however, only a few artisans are capable of producing these exquisite
ukiyo-e.
● Fortunately, the Adachi Institute of Woodcut Prints based in Tokyo’s Mejiro
district is engaged in the reproduction of ukiyo-e.
● It has also commissioned ukiyo-e drawings from modern artists such as
Hiramatsu Reiji (b. 1941) and Yamaguchi Akira (b. 1969) to make original woodcut
prints.
● 69-year-old master carver Niinomi Morichika is one of the few master of the woodblock
Ukiyo-e artist.
● The "floating world" depicted in the Edo period woodcut prints was in fact the
contemporary world of that time. (Koyama)

24. ● The 2013 multi-color
woodcut print Haru (Spring)
created from a design by
the artist Hiramatsu Reiji.

25. Conclusion
● The concept of the hedonistic "floating world" allowed for the development
of a distinct urban culture and drove artistic production in the Edo period,
especially the Ukiyo-e genre.
● Comparative social content during Tokugawa Ieyasu's time period led Japan
to the prosperity and urbanization, which allowed merchant class people to
indulge in the floating world district like Yoshiwara.
● These pleasure quarters developed their own intricate culture surrounding
courtesans, fashion, entertainment and Hedonism.
● Art as mirror of society: Ukiyo-e artist have depicted this new cultural
development in their woodblock prints and paintings.

26. References
● Coman, Sonia. “Smarthistory – A brief history of the arts of Japan: the Edo period.” Smarthistory, 2
December 2019, https://smarthistory.org/japan-edo-period/. Accessed 27 March 2024.
● Ellis, James W. “(PDF) The Floating World of Ukiyo-e Prints: Images of a Japanese Counterculture.”
ResearchGate, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336142502_The_Floating_World_of_Ukiyo-
e_Prints_Images_of_a_Japanese_Counterculture. Accessed 27 March 2024.
● Fiorillo, John. “Ukiyo-e (Pictures of the Floating World 浮世絵).” Viewing Japanese Prints,
https://www.viewingjapaneseprints.net/texts/ukiyoe/intro_ukiyoe.html. Accessed 27 March 2024.
● Fiorillo, John. “Ukiyo - Floating World (浮世).” Viewing Japanese Prints,
https://www.viewingjapaneseprints.net/texts/topics_faq/faq_floatingworld.html. Accessed 27 March
2024.
● Harding, Daryl. “FEATURE: The Real-Life History Behind the Entertainment District in Demon Slayer:
Kimetsu no Yaiba.” Crunchyroll, 12 May 2022,
https://www.crunchyroll.com/news/features/2022/5/12/feature-the-real-life-history-behind-the-
entertainment-district-in-demon-slayer-kimetsu-no-yaiba. Accessed 5 April 2024.

27. ● Harding, Daryl. “The real-life destruction haunting Demon Slayer's Entertainment District Arc.” Polygon, 15
February 2022, https://www.polygon.com/22933948/demon-slayer-entertainment-district-arc-history.
Accessed 5 April 2024.
● Haruko, Hosoda. ““Ukiyo-e” Artwork Is a Window to Life in the Edo Period.” nippon.com, 25 July 2012,
https://www.nippon.com/en/column/g00036/. Accessed 30 March 2024.
● Jenkins, Donald. “Paintings of the Floating World.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol.
75, no. 7, 1988, pp. 244–238. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25160038. Accessed 5 Apr. 2024.
● Koyama, Brigitte. “Modern-day Artisans Carry On the “Ukiyo-e” Tradition.” nippon.com, 6 March 2014,
https://www.nippon.com/en/views/b02306/?pnum=3#. Accessed 5 April 2024.
● Lin, Ching Yee. “The Pursuit of Pleasure: How the Floating World Defined Edo Japan.” TheCollector, 18
March 2022, https://www.thecollector.com/edo-japan-ukiyo-floating-world/. Accessed 28 March 2024.

28. ● Lloyd, George. “What became of Yoshiwara, Tokyo's old red-light district?” Japan Today, 23 June 2020,
https://japantoday.com/category/features/travel/what-became-of-yoshiwara-tokyo%E2%80%99s-old-red-
light-district. Accessed 5 April 2024.
● Taketoshi, Hibiya. “The Yoshiwara Pleasure Quarters: A Cradle for Japan's Edo Culture.” nippon.com, 2
September 2020, https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-topics/g00885/#. Accessed 5 April 2024.
● Tresadern, Molly, and Axel Rüger. “When east inspired west: the extraordinary influence of Japanese art.”
Art UK, 14 June 2017, https://artuk.org/discover/stories/when-east-inspired-west-the-extraordinary-
influence-of-japanese-art. Accessed 30 March 2024.

29. Thank you