Group Portrait; interior spaces; canopies (structural elements); men (male humans); robes (main garments); hats
Three men in Chinese robes sit on a platform while two others with drawn swords stand before them. Gao of Han (commonly known as Gaozu, personal name Liu Bang), was the first emperor of the Chinese Han Dynasty, ruling over China from 202 BC until...
snow (precipitation); men (male humans); women; kimonos; children (people by age group)
Kiuchi Sogoro, as mayor of Kozu-mura (present day Narita City), presented a petition in 1652 directly to the shogun Tokugawa Ietsuna asking tax relief for his farming village because of a bad harvest and harsh treatment by the local governor Hotta...
trees; flowers (plants); men (male humans); women; kimonos; waterfalls (natural bodies of water)
Oguri Hangan, searching for stolen family treasures in Yokoyama, finds his missing fiancee, Princess Terute, working incognito as a maid in the house of a rice merchant. The merchant's daughter, who also loves Hangan, attempts to kill Terute out of...
women; children (people by age group); kimonos; fans (costume accessories); oil lamps; fruit; stoves (heating equipment); Single Built Works; tables (support furniture); men (male humans)
Meiji period color woodblock print from the "Parody of 24 Paragons of Filial Piety" series, depicting the dutiful son Gomo eating a pomegranate. Above them Wu Meng has lit a smoking fire to protect his father from mosquitoes.
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...
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...
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.
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.
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 a variation on the "Cat Monster of Saga" story, (see plates 34-35 for description of the kabuki play), the mother of Ryuzoji Matahichiro appears to be threatened by Nabeshima Naoshige (1538-1618), who took control of Saga Castle and its domain...
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...
Rakugo / "humorous storytelling" is shown in the circular scene, with the narrator seated on a stage before an audience of young and old. A wall poster suggests that this is the famous Enshi Danshuro (1838-1900) who was popular for his tales based...
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.
After the Battle of Sekigahara, Tokugawa Ieyasu banished Sanada Masayuki (1544-1608) and his son Yukimura (1570-1615), Nobuyuki's younger brother, to Mt. Kudo in Kii Province, far from their home in Shinano Province. When Yukimura's wife came 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; children (people by age group); kimonos; trees; shrines (structures); men (male humans)
A mother and daughter join others in a pilgrimage on New Year's Day to Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples in the auspicious directions from where they live, in order to obtain good luck and prosperity in the coming year. The hall at left is...
women; children (people by age group); men (male humans); kimonos; lanterns (lighting devices); fusuma; interior spaces
In the city of Sendai, several assassination attempts were made to overthrow the Date family. The print depicts a masked assassin being overpowered by a family retainer while the young heir is shielded by his nursemaid during an attack in the...
women; children (people by age group); men (male humans); swords; kimonos; costume; shoes (footwear); hairstyles
Choko and Chorei were two brothers who looked after their aged mother. One day Choko was bringing a cabbage home for their mother when he was set upon by robbers. Finding he had nothing to give them, they had decided to kill him but agreed to wait...
Kintaro, also called Kaidomaru, was raised in the wilderness of Mt. Ashigara by Yamauaba. Supposedly he could speak animal languages and is often depicted with animals (see prints 93.6.10 and 93.3.39 for treatments of Kintaro's youth.) As a young...
