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Japan: An oiran or courtesan. Toshusai Sharaku, c. 1795

Japan: An oiran or courtesan. Toshusai Sharaku, c. 1795

Tōshūsai Sharaku (東洲斎 写楽, active 1794 - 1795) is widely considered to be one of the great masters of woodblock printing in Japan. Little is known of him, besides his ukiyo-e prints; neither his true name nor the dates of his birth or death are known with any certainty. His active career as a woodblock artist seems to have spanned just ten months in the mid-Edo period of Japanese history, from the middle of 1794 to early 1795.

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