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...
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,...
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...
The ten year old boy Kusunoki Masatsura (1326-48), following his father's defeat and death at the Battle of Minatogawa in 1336, considered committing suicide, but his mother stopped him, reminding him of his moral obligations to support the emperor...
The poet and renown archer Minamoto no Yorimasa (1104-1180) was able to slay a mysterious beast / nue that plagued the imperial palace, and received in gratitude from Emperor Konoe a sword, presented by the Minister of the Left Fujiwara no Yorinaga...
On the 7th day of the new year, the shogun presented the Inner Palace with large cakes of pounded rice / mochi. Making and eating mochi is still a popular new year's celebration, with small mochi cakes in a vegetable stew / ozoni being a popular...
legends (folk tales); men (male humans); caves; bats (animals)
While hunting with the shogun, the 12th-century samurai Nitta ShirÅ Tadatsune distinguished himself by seizing and killing a wounded boar about to attack the shogun. A couple of days later, Tadatsune was walking on Mt. Fuji, and he and his...
On a ribbon floating above a globe, the series title is presented in large characters / kanji, with the publisher's name on the right and the artist's name on the left. The sphere has lines suggesting longitude and latitude divisions, resembling a...
men (male humans); soldiers; military uniforms; swords; hats;
With the Satsuma Rebellion in Kyushu capturing the country's attention in 1877, Tokyo publishers were quick to provide more background materials about Saigo and his men, such as this scene from a dramatic meeting in 1873 when Saigo quit the...
