Though nowhere near as all-encompassing as the Renaissance in Europe, the closed, feudal world of shogunal Japan did throw up a few periods of vigorous artistic expression in the more than two and a half control-freak centuries it lasted. One of these was about 200 years ago, from 1804-1830, during what is known as the Bunka-Bunsei Period (usually shortened to the Kasei Period) -- a flowering of popular, "people's" culture among the urban masses of Edo which, with around 1.5 million inhabitants, was then the biggest city in the world. These heady few decades are the focus of "Kirara Ukiyoden (Graffiti of a Sparkling, Floating World)," now being staged in Shinjuku by the Tobira Za Theater Company.

Unlike the Kansai-centered Genroku Period (1688-1704), famed for its novels, lyrical writing and the refinement of kabuki, Kasei culture struck a populist chord through the ukiyo-e prints of woodblock artists such as Utamaro, Sharaku and Hokusai, and the racy, humorous novels of Harumachi Koikawa, Kyoden Santo and Bakin Takizawa -- all of whom figure prominently in this play by Kensuke Yokouchi.

"Kirara Ukiyoden" opens in front of the massive gate of Yoshiwara, Edo's most famous licensed pleasure-quarter. A young girl has just been sold to a brothel, and as she struggles vainly to escape, a young bookseller who is passing gives her one of his volumes as intellectual stimulation to ease her plight.