Suzuki Harunobu
Japanese, 1724–1770
Righteousness, from The Five Virtues, 1767
Color woodblock print
36.6 × 21.6 cm (14 ½ × 8 ½ in.)
The Cleveland Museum of Art
The Kelvin Smith Collection, given by Mrs. Kelvin Smith
Two young male courtesans enjoy reading in their quarters by candlelight. One holds an illustrated book recognizable as the drawing manual Illustrated Book of the Treasure-Bag of Sketches (絵本写宝袋), published in 1720 by Tachibana Morikuni (1679–1748). The poem at the top translates as follows:
In all things to be humble,
discern the path of reason,
and abstain from falsehood.
This is what we call righteousness.
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