The Courtesan Takao
date: label: Date
content: ca. 1840
label: Period
content: Edo period
name: label: Artist
content: Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重 (1797-1858)
notes: label: School/Tradition
content: Ukiyo-e
label: Label
content: This image of a beauty wrapped in an autumn maple leaf-patterned kimono with a bird streaking through the sky is an unmistakable reference to the courtesan Takao. From the mid-seventeenth through the mid-eighteenth century, eleven courtesans bore the sobriquet of Takao. The second Takao, however, who was active in the mid-1650s, was renowned for her skills in seducing rich and powerful patrons. Her ultimate conquest, the daimyo of Sendai, Date Tsunamune (1640-1711), purchased her freedom from brothel life, and they remained together until her death.
label: Label
content: A poem of passionate longing traditionally attributed to Takao mentions the hototogisu (Cuculus poliocephalus, often translated as cuckoo) that flies over Komagata. Tsunamune had a residence in the Komagata area of Asakusa in Edo. The hototogisu is a bird associated with the fourth lunar month and the vicissitudes of love. Takao is also the name of a site near Kyoto famous for its resplendant autumn foliage, thus the artist makes associations between the courtesan's name, her kimono pattern, and the Kyoto site.
label: Label
content: In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries apocryphal stories of Takao were the grist for pulp fiction and kabuki script writers. While associated with Takao, Tsunamune was involved in a succession struggle within the Sendai domain. In 1660 the shogunate condemned him for his licentiousness--probably a politically motivated charge with some basis in truth--and as a penalty Tsunamune had to pay for the construction of a large section of the Edo castle's moat. Assassinations and other political intrigues continued for several years, giving storytellers in later years further reason to cast Tsunamume in a villainous image suitable for popular entertainment. One of the most persistent tales reports that he murdered Takao.
label: Label
content: This painting was done by Hiroshige in the early 1840s and has been widely regarded for more than a century as a superlative example of his forays into the bijin (beautiful women) genre.
label: Provenance
content: To 1903
label: Provenance
content: Yamanaka & Company, to 1903 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1903 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Yamanaka & Company in March 1903 [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 1920
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] Undated folder sheet note. See Original Kakemono and Makimono List, pg. 71, L. 301, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. The majority of Charles Lang Freer’s purchases from Yamanaka & Company were made at its New York branch. Yamanaka & Company maintained branch offices, at various times, in Boston, Chicago, London, Peking, Shanghai, Osaka, Nara, and Kyoto. During the summer, the company also maintained seasonal locations in Newport, Bar Harbor, and Atlantic City.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See note 1.
label: Provenance
content: [3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.
label: Collection
content: Freer Gallery of Art Collection
label: Exhibition History
content: Artists of Edo (November 19, 2005 to May 29, 2006)
label: Exhibition History
content: Surveying the Collections: Poets and Parties (July 2, 2000 to February 4, 2001)
label: Exhibition History
content: Portraiture from Japan (July 1, 1983 to April 5, 1984)
label: Exhibition History
content: Japanese Prints (January 18, 1980 to May 18, 1980)
label: Exhibition History
content: Japanese Ukiyo-e Painting (May 2, 1973 to July 1, 1974)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Japanese Art (October 3, 1947 to February 25, 1956)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Japanese Screens and Scrolls, 1946 (April 30, 1946 to October 3, 1947)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Japanese Screens and Scrolls (April 5, 1933 to December 8, 1941)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Yamanaka and Co. 山中商会 (1917-1965) (C.L. Freer source)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
place: label: Origin
content: Japan
topic: label: Topic
content: bird
label: Topic
content: Edo period (1615 - 1868)
label: Topic
content: woman
label: Topic
content: courtesan
label: Topic
content: Japan
label: Topic
content: ukiyo-e
label: Topic
content: kakemono
label: Topic
content: Japanese Art
label: Topic
content: Charles Lang Freer collection
setName: label: Related Online Resources
content: Google Arts & Culture
label: See more items in
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Charles Lang Freer
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: F1903.63
objectType: label: Type
content: Painting
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Color and gold on silk panel
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (image): 100.8 × 42.6 cm (39 11/16 × 16 3/4 in)