Cherry-blossom Viewing [b]

Cherry-blossom Viewing [b]

On-hanami

御花見

Part of a triptych (center). 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.
Signed Yōshū Chikanobu (楊洲周延) on the right panel. Publisher's seal: Fukuda Kumajirō (福田熊次郎) in a fish-shaped seal on the left panel. Blockcutter's mark seems like it might be present on left panel, but unidentified.

http://cdm16120.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/fineart/id/843

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

1894

Meiji 27

1894-01-01

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print (medium), woodblock (technique), paper (material), 15x10 inches (dimensions)

Japanese

image

2019.0.36b

St. Catherine University Archives and Special Collections