Cherry-blossom Viewing, C (On-hanami (御花見))

Cherry-blossom Viewing, C (On-hanami (御花見))

Part of a triptych (right). A group of court women are enjoying the cherry blossoms (sakura, 桜) on a spring day. Mt. Fuji (富士山) can be seen in the background. The women hail from the court of the Tokugawa shogunate shown by the repeating Tokugawa clan seal (mon, 紋) on the umbrellas (three hollyhock leaves inside of a circle). 16 women are pictured in total, and women in the middle and left panels seem to be playing a game together which involves being blindfolded. The Chiyoda Inner Palace (Chiyoda no Ōoku) series of 1895-1896, together with his 1897 series Chiyoda Outer Palace (Chiyoda no on-omote) provided detailed depictions of life in and around Edo Castle before the Meiji Restoration of 1868. In the Chiyoda Inner Palace set, Chikanobu documented various annual ceremonies in the women’s quarters, especially those at New Year’s, and seasonal activities, particularly those conducted in the palace gardens. While Chikanobu did not indicate specific events or name certain people that would link these images to a single date or time period, the scenes give an overall impression of what the shogun’s private quarters might have looked like in the mid-19th century.

Fukuda Hatsujirô / Fukuda Kumajirō 福田熊次郎 (Firm: Gusokuya 具足屋) (active c. 1874-1898). Block Cutter: N/A

1894 (Meiji 27)

1894-01-01

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The Customs of the Inner Palace of the Chiyoda Castle (Chiyoda no Ôoku (千代田之大奥))

print (medium), woodblock (technique), paper (materials), 10 x 15 inches (dimensions)

Japanese

image

2019.0.36a

St. Catherine University Archives and Special Collections