Maruyama Ōkyo, Shunga—The Kiss of Lovers

A colorful Japanese woodblock print depicting an intimate scene between a courtesan and a young man. The woman, with her hair artfully pinned up, leans over her partner, cupping his face in her hand. The closeness of their faces, their intertwined arms, and their partially parted garments give the depiction a distinctly erotic character.
The composition is built primarily through the rhythmic arrangement of the fabrics. The woman’s gray-violet kimono is covered with a delicate leaf motif, while the man’s dark green garment is adorned with a regular white pattern. Accents of pink and red, along with the golden ornaments in her hairstyle, enliven the subdued color palette. The subtlety of the gestures and the concentration of the depicted figures draw the viewer’s attention.
The work belongs to the shunga genre, although the scene primarily depicts the caresses and emotional intimacy of the lovers, without a literal depiction of the sexual act.
The inscription reads:
安永己亥暮春 – “in late spring of the year of the Earth Pig (Tsuchinoto-i) of the An’ei era,” that is, in the spring of 1779,
應擧筆 – “Ōkyo hitsu” – “by the brush of Ōkyo.”
This points to Maruyama Ōkyo, one of the most important painters of 18th-century Japan, the founder of the Maruyama school, and an artist known for developing a style of painting based on careful observation of nature.
However, given the erotic composition’s stylistic departure from Ōkyo’s typical work, the authorship should be cautiously described as a traditional attribution based on the inscription, rather than an indisputable attribution. The presented piece is a later woodcut reprint of the original, which is dated 1779 according to the inscription.
Artist of the original: Maruyama Ōkyo (1733–1795) – according to the inscription
Descriptive title: The Kiss of Lovers
Inscription: 安永己亥暮春 (An’ei tsuchinoto-i boshun) – “late spring of 1779”
Signature: 應擧筆 (Ōkyo hitsu) – “by the brush of Ōkyo”
Date of print: later reprint, 20th century
Dimensions: woodblock print—17.5 x 23.5 cm, cover—32.5 x 42.5 cm.