Three women in flowered kimonos sit around a koto, a form of 13-string zither. The girl on the left is removing the tsume, or picks, from a tasseled bag, and the girl in the middle placing them on her forefinger, middle finger, and thumb of the...
A young beauty looks away from the viewer, glancing back over her left shoulder. She wears a comb and a flowered hair ornament with a blue and white tassel in her hair and a ring on her left hand. Three layers of kimono are visible: a gray...
Meiji period color woodblock triptych print depicting seven women in a room engaged in a poetry composition contest. Three of the women sit before writing tables, brushes in hand, writing poems on narrow strips of paper; a elderly woman sits with...
women; children (people by age group); infants; kimonos; books; fans (costume accessories); toys (recreational artifacts)
Seven children are shown amidst toys, games and books. Two girls play ayatori / "string pulling" or cat's cradle, while a young lad looks at pictures of samurai / "warriors." An inu haiku / papier mache dog is at right, next to a fan, drum and...
A woman, in a flower-covered red robe, dances, surrounded by small flames. Princess Yaegaki found herself in as difficult a situation as Romeo and Juliet, with whom this story from the play Honcho Nijushiko, or Twenty-four Examples of Filial Piety,...
A man in ragged robes sits on the ground before a yellow-flowering bush watching sparrows flying above him. Sanekata was a poet and high-ranking nobleman of the Fujiwara clan. He died in exile in 994. Toward the end of his political career,...
A man in ragged robes sits on the ground before a yellow-flowering bush watching sparrows flying above him. Sanekata was a poet and high-ranking nobleman of the Fujiwara clan. He died in exile in 994. Toward the end of his political career,...
legends (folk tales); men (male humans); armor (protective wear); Buddhas
An armored samurai is wrestling a red demon and multitude of skeletons under the gaze of a grinning yellow Buddha. Toki Motosada has seized the demon by the wrist and is throwing it down. Moths flutter around them under a full moon.
Where...
children (people by age group); hair ornaments; hairstyles; kimonos; dolls
This series depicts a variety of girls and women in both modern and traditional costumes. Some hold fans, flowers or books, while others play musical instruments, read the newspaper or drink beverages. Nearly all have their heads turned slightly,...
A woman with a large yellow and black umbrella (open) is accompanied by three white herons. The relationship of the animal kingdom to the world of human beings is close in rural societies. People feel a kinship with the wild creatures around them. ...
women; children (people by age group); kimonos; books; clocks; tables (support furniture); cabinets (case furniture); calligraphy
Two girls and their mother are enjoying books. One daughter is kneeling before an open illustrated volume, holding a pointer to help her read. Her sister, standing behind, holds another thread bound book, similar in color to the cover of the one...
men (male humans); women; kimonos; books; axes (tools)
According the Konjaku monogatari, a devout young woman valued all sentient beings, and bought some live crabs at a market to set them free. Later when her father saw a snake about to eat a frog, he asked the snake to give up his meal in return for...
A woman, slightly bent over, grasps her hair at the river's edge. Kiyohime was the daughter of an innkeeper at the village of Masago. Anchin was a devout monk at Dojo Temple on the banks of the Hidaka river. Each year Anchin stayed at Kiyohime's...
men (male humans); women; children (people by age group); kimonos; flowers (plants); vases; cabinets (case furniture); books; tables (support furniture); works of art
When Lu Ji was six years old, he traveled with his father to visit the Chief Minister of Nan Yang. The minister ordered his servants to bring a dish of oranges to offer to the young boy. Lu Ji secreted the fruit away in the sleeve of his robe. When...
Back to back print. A warrior in armor carries another across his back from the battlefield. The battle behind him is represented by black, swirling clouds and red flashes. Okubo Hikozaemon (1560-1639) was one of Tokugawa Ieyasu's trusted generals...
schools (organizations); men (male humans); children (people by age group); girls; kimonos; hairstyles; books; tables (support furniture)
In Gakko shaken / "School examinations" two girls dressed in kimono study from a traditional thread bound volume. In the ocular scene, three school teachers dressed in double breasted black suits stand near a table in a Western style classroom...
men (male humans); women; children (people by age group); hunting; kimonos
These 2 pictures seem to be only tangentially related. At top Tanzi is dressed in deer hide so he could sneak into a herd of deer to get milk for his ailing parents. However, when a hunter was about to shoot the deer, Tanzi revealed his identity,...
In the last act of this 5 act play "Lord Kiichi's Three Books of Tactics" / Kiichi hogen sanryaku no maki written for the puppet theater in 1731, the famous warrior Yoshioka Kiichi has retired from the conflicts between the Genji and Heike clans....
An image of a warrior with sword and bow and arrows in the foreground, looking back at human/demon forms dancing in the background. Minamoto no Tametomo was, like Oniwaka/Benkei (7), an extremely violent youth. By the time he was fifteen he is...
An image of a warrior with sword and bow and arrows in the foreground, looking back at human/demon forms dancing in the background. Minamoto no Tametomo was, like Oniwaka/Benkei (7), an extremely violent youth. By the time he was fifteen he is...
