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The enjoyment of life's manifold pleasures was captured in a range of paintings that featured popular entertainments such as festivals, theater or prostitution that flourished with the new peace and prosperity of late 16c and 17c town society.
Yuurakuzu developed out of the pictorial themes of tsukinami fuuzoku-zu 月次風俗図 (see *fuuzokuga 風俗画), with their emphasis on seasonal rituals and customs, and *rakuchuu rakugai-zu 洛中洛外図, which included depictions of entertainment districts of the capital, Kyoto, that later became independent painting subjects *Shijougawara-zu 四条河原図 is one such subject. Pictures of festivals *sairei-zu 祭礼図 also often included depictions of street entertainments and should be considered as part of the background of the developments in yuuraku-zu.
The combination of depictions of amusements with those of famous places *meisho-e 名所絵, including mountains, temples, and shrines popular for sightseeing in the Kyoto area, formed one type or sub-genre, pictures of outdoor amusements, yagai yuuraku-zu 野外遊楽図. Among the best-known is Kanou Hideyori's 狩野秀頼 (d.1557) Maple Viewing of Mt.Takao, screen Takao kanpuu-zu 高雄観楓図 (Tokyo National Museum), probably paired originally with scenes of Higashiyama in spring and summer. Other notable examples that present typical outdoor sight-seeing and events with eating, drinking and dancing at well-known places are: the screens of Merry-Making Under Cherries at Gion and Kamigamo, Kaka yuuraku-zu 花下遊楽図 (Nanban 南蛮 Museum in Hyougo prefecture and Suntory サントリ－ Museum in Tokyo, early 17c); Kamo Horse racing *Kamo no keiba 賀茂競馬 (Nishimura 西村 collection, first half of 17c); and the Famous Places of Higashiyama, Higashiyama meisho-zu 東山名所図 (Tsuruki 鶴来 collection, late 16c-early 17c). Other yagai yuuraku-zu cannot be identified with specific locales. The Cherry-Viewing screen, Hanami-zu 花見図, paired with *Takagari 鷹狩 (MOA Museum in Shizuoka prefecture, first half of 17c), Dengaku Dance screen, Dengaku odori 田楽踊り (Hosomi 細見 Museum in Osaka, first half of 17c) and Kanou Naganobu's 狩野長信 (1577-1654); Merrymaking Under Cherries, screens Kaka yuuraku-zu (Tokyo National Museum) focus increasingly on human activities. A second type pictures of indoor amusements, shitsunai yuuraku-zu 室内遊楽図 are an outgrowth of yuuri-zu 遊里図 (pictures of the entertainment districts) which show the public's interest in establishments for relaxation and the assignations or preliminaries before retiring to a brothel, properly known as tea house chaya 茶屋. This type of yuuraku-zu also showed the employees of brothels in famous Kyoto areas such as Gion 祇園, Kamishichiken 上七軒 near Kitano Tenmanguu 北野天満宮, and Shimabara 島原 (for Edo yuuri-zu, see *Yoshiwara 吉原). One screen of a pair handed down at Sououji Sououji byoubu 相応寺屏風 (Tokugawa 徳川 Art Museum in Nagoya, early 17c), for instance, shows the entertainments in various rooms of a huge two-story brothel. Large numbers of men bathe, sing, dance, drink, and relax together with courtesans. Compositionally, pictures of indoor amusements, as with those of outdoor amusements, came to focus more closely on the activities of a few figures, dropping the panoramic compositions or multi-scenic depictions of an entire establishment. The famous Hikone Screen, Hikone byoubu 彦根屏風 (Hikone Castle Museum, in Shiga prefecture, first half of 17c), in its relatively large-scale depiction of the human figures (engaged in activities and postures popularized in the pleasure districts) placed against a largely empty background and with an emphasis on the details of fashion including kimono 着物 fabric designs is representative of the genre. A third type of yuuraku-zu, is that of women fujo 婦女 and particularly courtesans yuujo 遊女. Indeed there is a general development towards pictures of amusements which increasingly focus on stylish young women in the latest fashions and hairstyles. The so-called Legendary Honda Heihachirou, Honda Heihachirou Sugata-e 本多平八朗姿絵 (Tokugawa Art Museum, first half of 17c) with its quasi-narrative inclusion of the male "title-character" amongst a bevy of women including his ill-fated love and Tokugawa Ieyasu's 徳川家康 granddaughter Senhime 千姫 (1597-1666), represents the transition from shitsunai yuuraku-zu to fujo yuuraku-zu 婦女遊楽図. Examples of fujo yuuraku-zu are the screen of Weaving, Hataori 機織 (MOA in Shizuoka prefecture, first half of 17c) and the Matsura Screen, Matsuura byoubu 松浦屏風 (Yamato Bunkakan 大和文華館 in Nara, first half of 17c) which show courtesans engaged in various activities. Numerous screens of Dancers, maiko 舞姑 focus exclusively upon beautifully-dressed dancing girls (or sometimes young men) placed against a gold-foil background. The screens owned by Kyoto City Museum, the Yamato Bunkakan, and Suntory Museum are representative examples of this theme.
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