Torii Kiyonaga 鳥居清長

New Year (初春 Shoshun)

Maker

Torii Kiyonaga 鳥居清長 (1752-1815, b. and worked in Edo, Japan)
Ezakiya Kichibei 江崎屋吉兵衛 (Japanese, 1773 - 1852), publisher

Title

New Year (初春 Shoshun)
from the series Precious Children's Games of the Five Festivals (子宝五節遊 Kodakara gosetsu asobi)

Period

Edo Period

Year

ca. 1794

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Materials

ink and colors

Supports

Geography

Place Made: Japan

Dimensions

Vertical ōban: 37.8 x 25.2 cm (14 7/8 x 9 15/16 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Signature: 清長画 Kiyonaga ga (pictured by Kiyonaga)

Seals: Publisher's seal: Two vertical lines within a Circle (Ezakiya Kichibei)

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of Mrs. Gustav Radeke

Object Number

20.1122

Type

Exhibition History

Striking Chords
Music in *Ukiyo-E* Prints
Feb 05, 2022 – Jul 31, 2022

Label copy

Five children celebrate the new year in their finery, surrounded by seasonal adornments that promise abundance, prosperity, and longevity. Enacting the Manzai, a traditional performance to welcome in the New Year, one boy plays the hand drum and the other dances with a fan under a stretched rope (shimenawa) that holds tufts of straws, paper streamers, and fern fronds. Children in the foreground enjoy traditional new-year toys-a kite, a battledore and shuttlecock, and a handball (temari). On the right, a festive display featuring a miniature pine tree, a lobster, and piles of mandarin oranges adds to the ambience and symbolism of this observance.

Edo Culture as Reflected in Japanese Woodblock Prints
Sep 22, 1994 – Dec 15, 1994

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Public Domain This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Torii Kiyonaga 鳥居清長 (1752-1815, b. and worked in Edo, Japan)
Ezakiya Kichibei 江崎屋吉兵衛 (Japanese, 1773 - 1852), publisher
New Year (初春 Shoshun); from the series Precious Children's Games of the Five Festivals (子宝五節遊 Kodakara gosetsu asobi), ca. 1794
Polychrome woodblock print (nishiki-e)
Vertical ōban: 37.8 x 25.2 cm (14 7/8 x 9 15/16 inches)
Gift of Mrs. Gustav Radeke 20.1122

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