The bathhouse

歌川豊国筆 風呂場

With loving detail, Toyokuni takes us inside a bathhouse where a woman soaks in hot water while a maid scrubs her back. The tub is of the type known in the Edo period as “gun bath,” after the metal stovepipe at the top. The two women at the right chat while they wait, one in a gauzy robe of ikat fabric, the other partly undressed, with a robe pulled loosely around her body. Various articles of clothing—including intimate garments—hang nearby on green bamboo poles. The shadows on the wall are an unusual feature of this print, possibly inspired by imported Western engravings. At left a young man leans into the room, his sleeves pushed up to offset the heat. While appearing to chat with the woman seated below the window, he glances beyond her to the beauty in the tub.