families; women; children (people by age group); Single Built Works; dwellings; kimonos; hats; suits
Print no. 4 of the "24 Paragons" shows at top the story of Min Ziqian (J: Binshiken) whose stepmother preferred his stepbrothers. When his father found out, the wife was ordered out of the house, but young Min begged his father to allow her to...
A woman in an ornately patterned blue kimono stands before a flowering tree. A box is tucked into the edge of the red kimono she wears beneath the blue one; beneath this we see three white layers. She wears a cluster of gold flowers on each side of...
Three women in flowered kimono surround an aquarium containing long-finned goldfish. Behind them on a table sits a bonsai display, depicting a mountain and trees by a river. On the left a standing woman in a blue and pink tinted kimono and red obi...
Yoshiwara was the pleasure district of Edo, a city within the city surrounded by high walls and a water moat, which housed Edo's prostitutes from 1617 to 1957. Its courtesans were considered among the "Flowers of Edo." The print combines three...
Ota Dokan approached an inn on a rainy day to request the loan of a rain coat. Instead, the maid brought him a Yamabuki flower on a tray. Her meaning was expressed by the poem "Although having many petals the Yamabuki, to our regret, has no seed."...
Back to back print. A man in a blue robe and a black samurai hat stands holding a fan; a younger man in a red kimono and holding a sword sits at his feet. Behind them is a screen painted with crane, and through an open doorway one can see a stone...
mythology (literary genre); children (people by age group); men (male humans); mirrors; robes (main garments); hats; kimonos; supernatural
Enma (the demon king of the underword) is showing the boy Zennojo his father's crimes in a magic mirror. The child Zennojo crouches before the mirror held by a red demon. Behind him, a blue, horned demon stands, pointing at the mirror and showing...
Four of the great Meiji Period kabuki actors are represented in this triptych. Nakamura Shikan IV (1830-1899) in the role of Takeda Shingen (1521-1573) is at far right, next to Ichikawa Danjuro IX (1839-1903) playing the part of Rakuganji...
women; elderly; kimonos; men (male humans); hats; Single Built Works; trees; fences; hand spinning; bridges
An image from the series of parodies of the Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Piety, in which a bijin with a green sack stands at a gate, while an old woman can be seen in the interior of the house behind the gate. The inset shows a young man and...
This later Setsu gekka series, which numbers at least 30 prints, is rather lyrical in its depiction of seasonal change. Flower petals flutter to the ground as a little dog tugs on its leash. Mist crosses a full summer moon as Niwaka Festival...
men (male humans); women; kimonos; military uniforms; chairs; daises; fans (costume accessories); hair ornaments; drums (membranophones); flowers (plants); vases
The emperor and empress sit on the dais in the background overseeing the presentation of the Emperor's Gift Cups to military leaders involved in quelling Saigu's Satsuma Rebellion. Yamagata Aritomo, Commander of the Imperial Army in Kyushu, is...
porches; dwellings; Single Built Works; women; kimonos; children (people by age group); men (male humans); infants; fans (costume accessories); toys (recreational artifacts); stoves (heating equipment); lanterns (lighting devices); Japanese maple
Print. no. 6 from the series of parodies of the Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Piety. The top panel illustrated the story of Lady Tang who breast fed her elderly, toothless mother-in-law. In the lower panel a baby is crawling toward its mother, who...
women; kimonos; hand mirrors; hair ornaments; hairstyles
A beauty applies powder to the back of her neck with a brush. She is using two mirrors to aid her, one before her and a hand mirror held behind her to reflect the back of her head into the first mirror. Fine lines are depicted in the hair reflected...
courtesans; trees; flowers (plants); women; children (people by age group); men (male humans); kimonos; Single Built Works; hairstyles; hair ornaments
An elegantly dressed Yoshiwara courtesan looks on while a little boy, held by his mother, ties a poem sheet to a blossoming branch. A servant peeks from behind a broken umbrella, and two men dance in the background.
women; men (male humans); children (people by age group); kimonos; trees; built complexes and districts; hairstyles; hair ornaments
A family returns from the Shinto shrine of Kanda Myojin where they have received blessings for their children, including the baby wrapped in a purple cloak decorated with auspicious symbols. The young boy carries a packet of "1000 year candy" /...
women; men (male humans); oxen; landscapes (representations); trees
An ox, carrying bales of rice, loses it's footing on a mountain road and begins to fall over the edge. Ueno, the wife of Shimizu, the provincial governor of Kazusa, with a superhuman effort pulls the heavily burdened beast back on to the roadway;...
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...
group portrait; women; children (people by age group); swords; kimonos; men (male humans); snowstorms
Lady Tokiwa was a Japanese noblewoman of the late Heian period. A concubine or wife to Minamoto no Yoshitomo, she bore him three sons, one of whom became the great samurai general Minamoto no Yoshitsune. After Yoshitomo's death in 1160, she fled...
women; children (people by age group); flowers (plants); trees; gardens; kimonos; origami; urns; fusuma
Two children are conversing while folding origami cranes. They sit within a house, before a sliding door, overlooking a garden. To their left is a bamboo trellis and a large ornamental jar, and behind them a cluster of peonies is growing. A women...
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...
