# Pleasure Boat on the Sumida River

- By: Teisai Hokuba (Japanese, 1771–1844)
- Date: 1800s
- Medium: Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: Overall: 153.3 x 76.2 cm (60 3/8 x 30 in.); Painting only: 40 x 55.3 cm (15 3/4 x 21 3/4 in.)
- Culture: Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
- Credit line: The Kelvin Smith Collection, given by Mrs. Kelvin Smith
- Museum: [Cleveland Museum of Art](https://clevelandart.org/art/1985.262)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://invisiblenetwork.ai/thumbs/cma/1985.262/1985.262_web.jpg
- Who can see it: Little Ones profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

After a major fire in Edo (now Tokyo), the Yoshiwara licensed brothel district was relocated to an area accessed via boat along the Sumida River, giving rise to many compositions depicting travel there. Here, attendants with checkered robes serve refreshment to a client. A figure at the fore of the boat tends to the kitchen. A courtesan at the aft, or rear, surveys the river scene. Acquaintances converse in modest commuter boats, and fishers put in to a tiny island. The boat is near the entrance to the San’ya Canal, where pleasure-seekers would disembark.