Ukiyoe (pictures of the ‘floating world’) refer to a rich genre of pictures which portrayed the people and life of the entertainment districts during the Edo period. Most of the pictures are wood block prints but a few paintings were also executed. The entertainment districts with their kabuki theaters, tea houses and brothels served the commoners and samurai alike. Being immensely popular, pictures of famous and infamous actors, courtesans and their patrons sold well. By 1700, ukiyoe were well established with the public. By 1800, portraiture had reached its height of development. Thereafter, a new style of pictures emerged and rapidly became fashionable with the urban masses: landscape wood block prints such as the series done by Hiroshige and Eisen of the Nakasendo.
