Aragoto takes its name from the bold, exaggerated style of kabuki performance associated with powerful, heroic, and often superhuman characters. This reproduction of an early 1860s colour woodcut by Utagawa Kunikazu presents a commanding kabuki actor dressed in an extraordinary robe patterned with crashing waves, clouds, and dragons. His fierce expression, flowing white hair and beard, and imposing stance capture the heightened drama and spectacle of the kabuki stage.

The Floating World: Life in 19th-Century Japan

The Floating World is the English translation of the Japanese term ukiyo (浮世). During the Edo period (1603–1868), it came to describe the urban world of entertainment and pleasure that flourished particularly in cities such as Edo, modern-day Tokyo.

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It was the world of kabuki actors, geisha and courtesans, tea houses, restaurants, festivals, fashionable clothes, beautiful landscapes and the everyday pleasures of city life. Essentially, it was popular culture.

The art associated with it became known as ukiyo-e, literally “pictures of the floating world”. These were generally woodblock prints and paintings produced for a growing urban population rather than exclusively for an aristocratic elite.

The BAXCO collection brings together different forms of 19th-century Japanese printmaking, from single-sheet kabuki actor portraits and scenes of fashionable life to dramatic narrative compositions originally created as diptychs and triptychs. Artists represented include Osaka-based Utagawa Kunikazu, particularly known for his images of kabuki actors, and Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, whose remarkable career spanned the final years of the Edo period and the beginning of modern Japan.

These weren’t originally precious gallery objects. Many were relatively affordable, widely circulated images. People bought pictures of famous actors, fashionable women, beautiful places and popular entertainment in much the same way we might buy posters, magazines or photographs today.

The term ukiyo originally had Buddhist associations with the transience and impermanence of human existence. During the Edo period, however, the meaning was playfully turned around. Instead of dwelling on life’s impermanence, the idea became essentially: if everything is fleeting, enjoy it while it lasts.

The Floating World was about living in the moment: fashion, theatre, beauty, food, sex, spectacle and pleasure. And this is probably why I love these prints so much.

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  • Kurokami captures the elegance and extraordinary visual language of historical Japanese portraiture. This beautiful reproduction of a 19th-century gouache painting by an unknown Japanese artist is named for the Japanese word for “black hair”. The work is dominated by the sitter's elaborate coiffure and gilded hair ornaments, set against the vivid vermilion, indigo and softly aged tones of her robes.

    Kurokami

    Kurokami
    £95.00
  • Shizuka takes its name from the Japanese word for “quiet” or “stillness”. This beautiful reproduction of a 19th-century Japanese painting by an unknown artist captures a solitary figure seated against an expanse of warm, textured paper. Her flowing black outer robe reveals flashes of rich vermilion beneath, while the restrained palette, delicate linework and generous use of negative space give the composition its striking sense of calm and intimacy.

    Shizuka

    Shizuka
    £95.00
  • Kinryūzan

    Kinryūzan

    Kinryūzan
    £95.00
  • Wagasa takes its name from the traditional Japanese paper parasol that dominates the composition. Dating to around 1850, this colour woodcut depicts a tayū, an elite courtesan, on parade with her two kamuro, or child attendants, while a male attendant holds the great parasol above them. Brilliant vermilion and golden-yellow robes, elaborate textiles and delicate ornamentation turn the procession into a wonderfully theatrical display of colour and pattern.

    Wagasa

    Wagasa
    £95.00
  • Hanami takes its name from the Japanese tradition of gathering to admire the fleeting beauty of flowers, most famously the spring cherry blossom. This reproduction of an early 1860s colour woodcut by Utagawa Kunikazu depicts kabuki actors in a confrontation beneath cascading blossoms. Richly patterned robes of deep blue, black and gold stand dramatically against the charcoal ground, while the extraordinary sweep of blossom overhead gives the composition both theatricality and a surprising amount of stillne

    Hanami

    Hanami
    £95.00
  • Oiran takes its name from the elaborately dressed courtesan portrayed on stage by a male kabuki actor, identifiable through the extraordinary hairstyle, ornamental hairpins, richly patterned robes, and theatrical gesture. This reproduction of an early 1860s colour woodcut by Utagawa Kunikazu captures the actor beneath cascading blossoms, dressed in layers of deep blue, gold, red, and black and carrying an enormous lobster prop.

    Oiran

    Oiran
    £95.00
  • Shōbu takes its name from the Japanese word for a contest or showdown, capturing the tension at the heart of this theatrical scene. This reproduction of an early 1860s colour woodcut by Utagawa Kunikazu depicts a kabuki actor crouched beneath cascading cherry blossom, his sword held at his side. Bold expanses of black, vermilion, and muted blue contrast with the delicacy of the flowers overhead, giving the composition a powerful sense of anticipation.

    Shōbu

    Shōbu
    £95.00
  • Aragoto takes its name from the bold, exaggerated style of kabuki performance associated with powerful, heroic, and often superhuman characters. This reproduction of an early 1860s colour woodcut by Utagawa Kunikazu presents a commanding kabuki actor dressed in an extraordinary robe patterned with crashing waves, clouds, and dragons. His fierce expression, flowing white hair and beard, and imposing stance capture the heightened drama and spectacle of the kabuki stage.

    Aragoto

    Aragoto
    £95.00
  • Ama takes its name from Japan’s centuries-old tradition of female free-divers, who descended into coastal waters without breathing apparatus to gather abalone, shellfish and other treasures from the sea. This reproduction of an extraordinary 1870s colour woodcut by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi transforms that real-world tradition into something altogether more fantastical.

    Ama

    Ama
    £95.00