Foreign Residence in Yokohama 

After the opening of the port of Yokohama in 1859, paintings depicting exotic landscapes became known as Yokohama-e or Hama-e, and many were produced for a period after 1860. Utagawa Yoshikazu, a student of Utagawa Kuniyoshi, made an extraordinary number of Yokohama-e between 1860 and 1868, although the precise years of his birth and death are not known. Ukiyo-e can be a single picture, but many were also made in sets or as continuous series that can be combined to form a larger image. This work consists of three images, and it makes good use of its horizontal breadth to depict in detail the interior of a building where foreigners (of unspecified nationality) gather. A man and a woman are preparing food on the right, while a man can be seen shaving in the back. The hall with the chandelier in the center is occupied by people playing musical instruments and others gathering around a dining table. And, as though to indicate the location in Yokohama, a view of the distant sea and ships is captured on the left.
(YATSUYANAGi Sae)