The Yoshiwara pleasure district of Edo (old Tokyo) has often been immortalized in word and image for the exquisite carnal pleasures it offered.
It was also considered the center of Edo Period (1603-1867) cultural life. If anyone could be said to have put Yoshiwara on the map, it was the bookseller, publisher and visionary Tsutaya Juzaburo. The Suntory Museum of Art's latest show in Tokyo, "Juzaburo, Publisher who discovered Utamaro and Sharaku," celebrates this entrepreneur by bringing together more than 250 Edo Period artifacts, the vast majority being ukiyo-e woodblock prints with which Juzaburo made his name.
Born in 1750, in Yoshiwara, which was located near what is Asakusa today, Juzaburo grew up immersed in the life and atmosphere of the area. By the age of 24 he was using the front section of his cousin's teashop at the entrance to the district, which was located near what is Asakusa today, to lend and sell books. Among these were various illustrated guidebooks to Yoshiwara that Juzaburo starting out licensing and went on to produce himself. The innovations he brought to these "Yoshiwara Saiken" illuminate how he soon became a savvy businessman and a cultural force.