The early 1780s were a difficult time for the shogunate, Japan's feudal government. Though the country was at peace, one of the worst famines on record was wreaking havoc across the land. Making matters worse, epidemics and natural disasters were rife. The peasantry was never far from open revolt.

Studies from Nature, by Kitagawa Utamaro, Translated by John T. Carpenter.
100 pages