Holding a Kyoto style doll, Otefu of the Kadoebi-ro stands near a display platform where lacquered stands and covered bowls suggest a Girls' Day display. The publication date of the 3rd day of the 3rd month (Girls' Day) of 1884 reinforces this...
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...
In the 6th month of alternate years in Edo/Tokyo, the Sanno Festival was celebrated with a parade of floats, banners, musicians and specially dressed groups processing from the Shinto Shrine of Hie Sanno Jinja to Edo Castle. The parade would pass...
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,...
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...
horseback riding; men (male humans); women; emperors; empresses; kimonos; military uniforms; flags; folding screens; boats; horse racetracks; fireworks (visual works); mountains; ponds; Single Built Works; Built complexes and districts
Horseracing at Ueno Park in Tokyo was a popular pastime from 1884 to 1893, and prints of the emperor and empress attending the races were quite popular. Several different versions of the same scene by Chikanobu are known, including one issued...
children (people by age group); women; men (male humans); kimonos; trees; flowers; mountains
Several myths surround Kintaro, a boy who grew up in the mountains and could speak animal languages, shown here with monkeys and the woman who helped raise him, Yamauba. Kintaro joined the legendary warrior Minamoto no Yorimitsu (948-1021) when he...
Girls' Day (Hinamatsuri, also known as the Doll Festival) is an annual spring celebration where various ornamental dolls representing the Emperor, Empress, their attendants, ministers, musicians, and furniture are displayed on a stepped platform...
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...
If the "Mirror of the Ages" series is viewed chronologically, perhaps in an album format, the costumes prior to the Tenna era are quite elaborately decorated with various colors, patterns and techniques, which make the 2 images representing the...
Akoya, an entertainer in Kyoto’s Kiyomizu zaka pleasure quarters, was mistress to the Heike warrior Taira Kagekiyo (died 1196), who was captured at the Battle of Dan-no-ura in 1185 but had escaped. The Genji commander ordered Hatakeyama Shigetada...
An image of a woman holding a severed head. The beautiful but evil woman who ruined a nation by seducing its ruler away from his duties was a familiar subject during certain periods of Chinese and Japanese history. In the popular imagination, the...
Print of a courtesan, tying a scarf on her head. This series of 24 images of courtesans shows typical moments of the various times of day. The licensed brothels in South-Central Tokyo would close at dawn and here a prostitute prepares to leave...
The medieval warrior Mori Rikimaru stands with his bloodied spear and two severed heads slung around his neck as trophies. On May 15, 1868 two thousand troops loyal to the shogunate fought a desperate battle at Ueno, in Edo, near the tombs of some...
warriors; armor (protective wear); swords; helmets; halberds; women; kimonos; hats; Single Built Works; snow (precipitation); arrows
In the play "Yoshitsune's 1000 Cherry Trees / Yoshitsune senbon zakura," the warrior Minamoto no Yoshitsune (1159-1185) must journey to a distant island and entrusts his beloved mistress Shizuka gozen to his friend Sato Tadanobu (1161-1186) for...
On the first morning of the new year, a special spiced wine or otosu is drunk before breakfast and thought to bring good health throughout the coming year. Usually the youngest member of the family or group is served first, and in Chikanobu's...
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 /...
Single Built Works; gardens; bridges (built works); women; men (male humans); kimonos; hairstyles; hair ornaments; helmets; swords; halberds
Yaegaki-hime dances at center holding the sacred helmet known as the Suwa hossho or "Suwa's unchanging essence," given by the kami or deities of Lake Suwa in Nagano Prefecture to the Takeda clan. In the kabuki theater repertoire, this is considered...
acrobats; men (male humans); children (people by age group); boys; girls
According to this poster the Chiarini Italian Circus group would be performing at Akihabara in the Kanda District of Tokyo from the first of September 1886. While Japan had a long tradition of jugglers, acrobats and other circus-like public...
