Utagawa Kunisada 歌川 国貞 (Toyokuni III)

The Twelfth Month: Making Mochi Cakes (Shiwasu: Mochitsuki)

Maker

Utagawa Kunisada 歌川 国貞 (Toyokuni III) (Japanese, 1786-1865, b. in Edo)
Tsutaya Kichizō 蔦屋吉蔵 (Japanese, c. 1830-1859, active in Edo, Japan), publisher

Title

The Twelfth Month: Making Mochi Cakes (Shiwasu: Mochitsuki)
Twelve Months
Junikagetsu no uchi

Period

Edo (Japanese period)

Year

1854

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Materials

color, ink

Supports

Geography

Place Made: Japan; Place Made: Tokyo

Dimensions

Overall: 36 x 74.4 cm (14 3/16 x 29 5/16 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Signature: Toyokuni ga

Seals: Censor's seal | aratame; date seal | 1854.6

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of Marshall H. Gould

Object Number

30.039.5

Type

Exhibition History

Kunisada's Twelve Month Series
Oct 10, 2008 – Feb 01, 2009

Label copy

In this final month of the winter season, preparations for the New Year festivities are underway as five women and a man make rice cakes (mochi) in the kitchen. Auspicious symbols of the coming year appear as small details: the turtle of long life is depicted on the fan of the woman on the left, and gourds, a symbol of good luck, are visible on the sliding screens behind her.

The publisher has included his mark on the lantern on the right as a form of self-advertisement. Similar lanterns appear in the print for The Seventh Month.

Kunisada's Twelve Months
Images of Women in Japanese Woodblock Prints
Mar 07, 1997 – May 03, 1997
The Twelve Months at Home
Mar 27, 1992 – May 17, 1992

Related Objects

More objects +

Image use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use.

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

Tombstone

Utagawa Kunisada 歌川 国貞 (Toyokuni III) (Japanese, 1786-1865, b. in Edo)
Tsutaya Kichizō 蔦屋吉蔵 (Japanese, c. 1830-1859, active in Edo, Japan), publisher
The Twelfth Month: Making Mochi Cakes (Shiwasu: Mochitsuki); Twelve Months; Junikagetsu no uchi, 1854
Polychrome woodblock triptych
Overall: 36 x 74.4 cm (14 3/16 x 29 5/16 inches)
Gift of Marshall H. Gould 30.039.5

To request new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.