Four women and a girl sit under a canopy in a boat while a sixth woman stands in the bow. The boat passes under a crag upon which a flowering cherry tree grows. Two egrets fly in the background. This triptych print is part of a series of 40 scenes...
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...
Celebration/festival; women; kimonos; hairstyles; shrines (structures); men (male humans)
Two women have been enjoying the cherry blossoms, for which Mukojima was famous, and one lady now rests on a red felt covered seat. The Meiji author Nagai Kafu thought highly of the area: "They who make the count of famous places of Tokyo cannot...
hair ornaments; calligraphy; mirrors; hand mirrors
To celebrate and document the fashions of former times, Chikanobu created a chronological presentation of beautiful women in sumptuous garments. Above the foreground figures are pictorial insets which make reference to the era of the costume,...
Two young men dressed in festival costumes stand in the foreground. Behind them another fellow raises wooden clappers to make a loud noise. The inset shows a Hie Sanno Festival float topped by a statue of a monkey, the messenger of the Sanno /...
Although a trusted retainer of the warlord Oda Nobunaga (1510-1551), Akechi Mitsuhide (1528-1582) was enraged when Nobunaga murdered his mother. Mitsuhide attacked Nobunaga at the Kyoto temple of Honno-ji, setting it afire. Nobunaga reportedly...
men (male humans); women; kimonos; musical instruments; Single Built Works; celebrations
In the 10th month, from the 9th to 11th, the Kompira Festival is held at the Kotohiragu Shrine dedicated to the guardian deities of mariners, and later on the 19th day special celebrations in Nihonbashi are held for Ebisu, one of the Seven Gods of...
An image of monsters coming out of a basket, threatening an old man. An old man and an old woman were neighbors. Every evening the old man fed a sparrow that visited him. When he returned home one day he was disturbed not to see the sparrow and...
The Soga Brothers were historical figures whose vow of revenge has resonated in kabuki and noh theaters for centuries. Juro Sukenari (1172-1193) and Goro Tokimune (1174-1193) were the children of Kawazu Sukeyasu, an ally of the Taira clan, who was...
women; children (people by age group); boys; helmets; kimonos; spears (weapons); temples (structures); Built complexes and districts;
A boy is dressed like the Buddhist Guardian King Bishamonten, holding a trident and wooden pagoda (that represents the relics of the historical Buddha). The boy's mother holds a calico cat (a "tiger" symbol) while the family servant giggles and...
women; children (people by age group); boys; men (male humans); helmets; kimonos; spears (weapons); temples (structures); Built complexes and districts; girls
A boy is dressed like the Buddhist Guardian King Bishamonten, holding a trident and wooden pagoda (that represents the relics of the historical Buddha). The boy's mother holds a calico cat (a "tiger" symbol) while the family servant giggles and...
women; children (people by age group); kimonos; hairstyles; trees; flowers (plants); sandals; shrines (structures)
The Shinto Shrine at Kameido is dedicated to Sugawara Michizane, also known as Kitano Tenjin, who had a great love of plum blossoms, so the grounds are noted for their early spring flowers (a branch of which juts into the composition and extends...
women; children (people by age group); kimonos; hats; trees; temples
A mother carries her son, who is wearing a tam-o'shanter or daikoku zukin, a cap associated with Daikokuten, God of Wealth and one of the Seven Gods of Good Fortune. The boy's kimono has various auspicious symbols, including a magic mallet (used by...
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.
women; children (people by age group); Single Built Works; trees; banners; kimonos; sandals
A mother carries her son on her back "horse riding" / uma nori - piggy back- style while her daughter entertains him with some hand puppets of a fox woman and samurai. The inset shows the Inari Shrine at Oji, one of the oldest Shinto sites in the...
women; girls; kimonos; hair ornaments; hairstyles; waterfalls (natural bodies of water); Japanese gardens; built works
A group of women stand on the banks of a stream in a garden. Behind them stands a cliff, over which falls a waterfall. In the far background a pavilion overlooks the water.
women; kimonos; built works; built complexes and districts
The esoteric Buddhist deity Marishiten is of Indian origin, the daughter of Brahma (J: Bonten) and associated with rays of the sun. Images of Marishi have multiple arms and faces and are shown riding a wild boar, hence the association with this...
These two women are dressed in summer kimono with blue water patterns. The kneeling woman holds out an ornament with a straw dragon entwined around a pine branch, a symbol of the “sea god” / umi no kami associated with the worship of the Shinto...
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...
An older woman with shaved eyebrows, indicating her married status, is nicely but conservatively dressed. Her plaid inner robe is typical of late Edo Period fashions in the city of Edo, often influenced by kabuki stage costume textiles. She might...
