The art work is currently on view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 231, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, New York, USA
Location History:
This print came from the Estate of Samuel Isham, who gave it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1914. The Met dates the artwork's origin to the 17th century (around 1680) in Edo, and attributes it to Edo-based artist Hishikawa Moronobu — the city we now call Tokyo.
The title Joroya refers to a licensed teahouse or brothel in Edo's Yoshiwara pleasure district. A world built around fantasy: beautiful courtesans, elegant manners, expensive drinks, the illusion of romance. Moronobu deliberately turns his back on the glamorous front and walks straight into the kitchen.
The Yoshiwara was not an ordinary neighborhood. It was a walled compound built by the government to keep pleasure contained. The print showcases the busy, cramped kitchen without any architectural barriers: no walls, no screens, no sliding doors. By leaving out the walls, he strips away the pretense. What is left is just hard, messy and honest work.
The floor is made of slatted bamboo, built so that the water drains right through. One cook is hunched over a big wooden tub, scrubbing an octopus with serious effort. Next to him, someone else is scraping off the scales of a fish. Another person pours water from a bucket. In the back, three enormous pots bubble away on a stove. And down in the corner, a dog sits by a twisted tree, just watching all the chaos unfold.
Moronobu was deeply interested in the everyday reality of Edo's townspeople. This print treats the cooks — the invisible, lower-status workers that nobody paid attention to, as the central subjects of artistic dignity. Their dynamic poses, fluid black ink lines, and focused expressions capture a sense of collective purpose. The painting neither glamorizes nor mocks them. It simply shows their dedication to their profession.
The Kitchen of a Joroya captures the invisible, unglamorous, yet essential heartbeat of the pleasure quarters. There is no judgment, no romanticization. He simply watches and asks us to watch too. Moronobu puts them front and center. He doesn't make them look heroic or sad. He just shows them working. Together. Moving with a kind of unspoken rhythm.
This print captures something most art of its time ignored: the hidden engine room of pleasure. Behind those high walls, someone had to wash the octopus. Someone had to scrub the fish. Someone had to keep the fire going so the guests could drink and flirt and forget their troubles.
‘The Kitchen of a Joroya’ by Hishikawa Moronobu depicts a kitchen, an often ignored part of a Joroya or courtesan house. The work is a graceful representation of an often ignored aspect of courtesan houses, one that stands in complete contrast to the flashy, glamorous brothels of Edo period Japan. Moronobu puts the focus on the kitchen, and especially the workers diligently working. He provides adequate dignity to the people working for others to enjoy and be seeped in the pleasure of the Joroya. The workers are all engaged in their own specific activities: cleaning octopus, preparing fish, and plating up the food to serve to the customers.
