Lady Interrupting Her Lover, who is Playing the Shamisen

Art Historical Context

This monochrome woodblock print by Nishikawa Sukenobu captures a tender, everyday moment from Japan’s Edo period (1615–1868). Created with ink on paper, the work depicts a woman gently interrupting her lover as he plays the shamisen, a three-stringed instrument central to both theater and private entertainment of the time. Such intimate domestic scenes were popular ukiyo-e prints, which brought images of daily life and romance to a wide audience through affordable reproduction techniques. Woodblock printing allowed artists like Sukenobu to share nuanced expressions of emotion and social interaction with the growing urban class. The composition’s horizontal format emphasizes the closeness of the figures, highlighting music as a bridge between lovers. The Metropolitan Museum’s impression, part of the H. O. Havemeyer Collection, preserves the subtle line work and balanced arrangement typical of the medium. Today the print offers visitors a window into Edo-period customs, where music and personal relationships were celebrated in art as markers of refined feeling and fleeting pleasure.

About the Artist

Nishikawa Sukenobu · 1671–1751

Japanese, 1671–1750