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...
Hanai Oume, who formerly had been a geisha under other names, was the owner of the Suigetsu restaurant in Tokyo. The night of June 9, 1887, she killed a man named Kamekichi on the banks of the Sumida River and afterward was arrested and charged...
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...
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...
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,...
In the 3rd month of the year, special tea ceremonies were held in the Inner Palace when guests and hosts played sophisticated games, such as guessing which types of tea were being served, or exchanged roles. In mawaribana guests took turns...
"At 3 am on July 29 a battle commenced and after five hours our troops were completely victorious" begins the text panel account of this print. Chikanobu depicts two officers leading the assault with the nation's flag held high. A Chinese canon in...
legends (folk tales); men (male humans); women; children (people by age group); swords; kimonos; waterfalls (natural bodies of water); baskets
The 24 Paragons of Filial Piety are based on a compilation of Confucian tales of exemplary behavior by children to their elders. In this tale, Chi Shun went into the forest to gather mulberries for his widowed mother, throwing the ripe, black...
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.
children (people by age group); men (male humans); porches; folding screens; trees; flowers (plants); swords; fusuma
According to the inscription on the left side, this composition was originally a painting by Chikanobu that he entered in the Second Painting Competitive Exhibition / Dai ni Kaiga Kyoshinkai held in 1884. The work received the bronze prize and was...
In the autumn fashionable geisha would dress in their lover's garments to visit the neighborhood shrine and participate in Niwaka kyogen, impromptu skits about life in the brothels. Dressed like an elegant young man, a young lady glances up at a...
When only eleven years old, Michizane composed his first poem in Chinese. The plum blossom was Michizane's favorite flower, and he would often write about its fragile petals and delicate fragrance. Here the artist has depicted the young poet...
mythology (literary genre); children (people by age group); men (male humans); mirrors; robes (main garments); hats; kimonos; supernatural
An image of a child watching a scene in a mirror, held by a demon. Back to back print. As Michizane was about to die, he ascended Mt. Tempai in Kyushu to declare his innocence of political corruption charges and to beseech the gods to clear his...
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...
women; men (male humans); kimonos; banners; sandals; headgear
In the 11th month, the Tori no Ichi Festival is held at the Hanamata Washi Daimyojin Shinto Shrine of the Buddhist temple of Chokoku-ji. An important image at the temple, popular with actors and courtesans, depicts Myoken, Bodhisattva of the North...
A kneeling woman lifts a heavy padded cloth. She wears a gray kimono patterned with flying birds, grasses and a river and underneath this three white under robes, which show at the front and back openings of her long sleeves. Her orange obi is...
Built complexes and districts; men (male humans); emperors; empresses; dresses (garments); horseback riding; military uniforms; hats; banners; carriages (vehicles)
Riding in an elaborate carriage, the emperor and empress have departed the Tokyo Imperial Palace, seen beyond the moat and stone walls, via the recently constructed Niju bashi / "Double Bridge" that leads from the southeast side of the palace...
women; children (people by age group); kimonos; candles; candleholders; fusuma
During the Setsubun / "Change of Season" festival held at the end of winter by the lunar calendar, mame-maki / "bean throwing" is accompanied by shouts of "Fuku wa uchi, oni wa soto" / "Good fortune in, demons out!" The beans are usually thrown out...
