women; boats; trees; flowers (plants); bodies of water; kimonos; fans (costume accessories); men (male humans); hairstyles; hair ornaments; swords
Meiji period color woodblock triptych "Sumikawa Yayoi no Hana" depicting the Meiji Emperor and Empress viewing cherry blossoms from a boat on the Sumida River. Court attendants are floating red sake cups on the river.
Lord Nabeshima Naoshige (1538-1618), the military governor (daimyo) of Hizen Province, is being threatened by the Cat Monster of Saga, which is seeking revenge for the deaths of Ryuzoji Matahichiro and his mother. Killer cats have long been a...
Meiji period color woodblock print from the series "Blossoming of Glorious Colors." Two courtesans sit with musical instruments in a room overlooking a water garden. A stone lantern sit under a pine outside the door; in the distance a bridge arcs...
women; hairstyles; hair ornaments; kimonos; children (people by age group); pictures (object genre)
Meiji period color woodblock print depicting a large head portrait of a young bijin wearing a kimono decorated with colorful calligraphy.
The series, "Mirror of the Ages" presents a group of fifty-three bust portraits of beauties from the Kenmu...
A bride is being escorted to her wedding accompanied by several married women. They are passing a table with an arrangement of auspicious figurines and floral elements. Two figurines are Jo and Uba, an elderly couple who symbolize longevity and...
women; children (people by age group); men (male humans); kimonos; hairstyles; hats; sandals; zoos; trees
Meiji period Japanese color woodblock print from the series "Scenes for the 12 Zodiac Signs." In the image two women walk hand in hand with a girl between them. Above is an inset of a scene of a goat in the zoo.
dolls; tables (support furniture); women; kimonos; hairstyles; hair ornaments; gardens; Built complexes and districts; streams
A group of women stand on the banks of a stream. One pushes a small raft loaded with food and drink across the stream with a pole towards two women who wait to receive it. In the background, houses on pilings line the edges of the steam and a...
men (male humans); costume; hairstyles; hair ornaments; hats; headgear; actors
Chikanobu provided illustrations for a number of board games and playing cards. These 3 sheets with 27 portraits of kabuki actors were probably published between 1882 when Nakamura Sennosuke (1860-1926) took the stage name Sawamura Tosshi VII and...
emperors; courts (social groups); kimonos; men (male humans); women; hairstyles; folding screens; chairs; military uniforms; daises
The composition depicts the Emperor and his male entourage in the room at right seated on chairs at a table, while the Empress sits on a low dais in the alcove at left, attended by 15 women. The two rooms are of different architectural styles,...
A woman leans lightly forward to play a koto. While she appears to be inside, backed by a folding screen and seated near a paper lantern that glows softly, the inset shows blossoming cherry trees around Shinobazu Pond at Ueno, with its shrine to...
A young woman and her puppy represent the Kan'ei era, a time when the Tokugawa shogunate was consolidating its power in Edo but still viewing the imperial capital of Kyoto as the center of Japanese culture. The bold designs on her kimono and the...
women; kimonos; hairstyles; hair ornaments; Built complexes and districts
Meiji period color woodblock print depicting a woman in the foreground wearing a lavender kimono with a chidori (sandpipers) and seashell pattern. A Shinto shrine of Itsukushima is in the background.
At New Year's playing with silk thread balls / itomari was popular among girls and women. Such hand balls / temari were filled with natural sponges for bouncing or with cloth or hair if used for rolling, tossing or just decoration. Here two older...
The alleged poisoning of the great warrior Kato Kiyomasa (1562-1611) was the subject of a kabuki play that premiered in 1807, but due to government censorship at the time, the main character's name was changed Sato Masakiyo. According to legend,...
Built complexes and districts; streets; banners; women; men (male humans); palanquins; processions; floats (vehicles); soldiers; kimonos; trees; fans (costume accessories); blinds (coverings); hairstyles; hats
A grand summer festival with a parade of palanquins and floats was staged on the 15th day of the 6th month to celebrate the Mountain Deity (Sanno) of Hie Shrine who had protected Edo Castle since 1478. Ota Dokan (1432-86), the military governor of...
women; children (people by age group); kimonos; porches; blinds (coverings); hairstyles
A lady in a bird-decorated kimono stands on a veranda under a full moon. Her hair hangs loose over her shoulders and she has "moth wing" eyebrows painted on her forehead. A young girl beside her points to something out of the picture and looks up...
Meiji period color woodblock print depicting the Emperor Go Daigo, beyond a screen at night, joining the moon viewing and poetry reciting of court ladies and attendants at the Imperial Villa in Yoshino.
women; men (male humans); kimonos; hairstyles; trees; Single Built Works; bamboo; gates; fences; hats; streams
Meiji period color woodblock print depicting a woman closing a bamboo gate to a moonlit garden, while a man inside the building looks out a partially opened window.
In The Tale of the Heike, a low-ranking lady-in-waiting, Yokobue, fell in love...
emperors; empresses; kimonos; hats; military uniforms; flowers (plants); chairs; hairstyles
Meiji Emperor and Empress at the center, below Kunitokotachi no Mikoto (primordial deity) and two deities of Ise, Injin and Yojin, with other gods and Emperors flanking.
