Age of the Dandy: the Flowering of Yoshiwara Arts
5 Age of the Dandy: The Flowering of Yoshiwara Arts Kiragawa Uramaro. Two geisha in typical niwaka festival attire with their hair dressed in the style of a young man. Ohide of the Tamamura-ya, seated, is receiving shamisen instruc- tion from Toyoshina of the Tomimoto school, ca. 1789. Courtesy of n 1751, Tanuma Okitsugu, a politician who left a significant mark on Christie’s New York. the second half of the eighteenth century, was one of many osobashti I serving the ninth shogun Ieshige. Osobashti were secretaries who con- veyed messages between the shogun and counselors, a position of a modest income, which in Tanuma’s case carried an annual salary of 150 koku. By 1767, Tanuma was receiving approximately 20,000 koku as the personal secretary to the tenth shogun, Ieharu. Two years later, with a salary of 57,000 koku, Tanuma was a member of the powerful shogunate council. Although examples of favoritism and extravagant promotion had occurred under the previous shoguns Tsunayoshi and Ienobu, there was no precedent for the degree of actual power Tanuma Okitsugu had assumed. He won his position through a combination of superior intelligence, political skill, and personal charm. In addition, he made unscrupulous use of bribery to coun- selors in key positions and ladies of the shogun’s harem.1 In 1783, after his son Okitomo’s name was added to the shogun’s select list of counselors, father and son virtually ruled Japan. Kitagawa Utamaro. Komurasaki of To strengthen the nation’s economy, Tanuma Okitsugu allied himself the Great Miura and her lover Shirai with the commercial powers of Edo and Osaka and promoted industry and Gonpachi (discussed in Chapter 3).
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