"The Floating World" at Palazzo Braschi

John and I were pleased to find a large and fascinating collection of Ukiyoe prints overlooking Piazza Navona at the Museum of Rome in Palazzo Braschi. 

"The Floating World" features elegant and sometimes racy images of urban elegance and wit set in Tokyo in the Edo period (1603-1858).

Elegant geishas and samurais are the main actors in the prints and they are given plenty of room to display their gorgeous apparel and their cultivated talents.

These young women, and and their attendant, collecting persimmons are by Kitagawa Utamaro (1803-1804),

as is this young samurai, with his female companions, hunting with falcons, (1804-1806).

Young women with an enormous snowball.

Another Utamaro print "Hanging out laundry on a roof," features a lovely detail of a cat, c. 1794.

Another Utamaro cat; at the feet of a courtesan, c 1808.

We didn't know Miyagawa Chōshun, so we were pleased to discover his images of street entertainers,

and street kids, c.1720.

Utamaro puppeteers in performance.

Fun that both puppets and puppeteers are visible.

Nice to be able to get up close to these meticulous prints.

Three of Kajiwara Genta Kagesue's portraits of actors from his series, Most Successful Kyōgen Plays, 1815.

"The actor Ichikawa Danjuro as Kan Shojo from the drama 'Sekai no hana Sugawara denju'"-- intense!

"The actor Nakamura Nakazo as Matsuomaru in the wagon-stopping scene from the drama Sugawara denju tenarai kagami," 1796.

We'll end on a corker: Utagawa Kuniyoshi's "The three vassals of Yorimitsu and demons," 1861. 

We love those demons! 

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The large, exciting exhibition continues until June 23, 2024.