Object number1984.55.6

The City Flourishing, Tanabata Festival

Portfolio/Seriesfrom the series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo

Date1857

Artist Utagawa Hiroshige (歌川広重) (Japanese, 1797-1858)

CultureJapanese

MediumWoodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper

DimensionsImage: 13 5/16 x 8 7/8 in. (33.8 x 22.5 cm)
Sheet (Vertical ōban): 14 1/8 x 9 7/16 in. (35.8 x 24 cm)

Credit LineGift of Elizabeth Coonley Faulkner, class of 1924

On View

Not on view

Period19th c (Edo Period)

Classification(s)

Terms

Nihon

SignedOn recto, signed lower left in block: 広重筆 (Hiroshige hitsu)

InscribedOn recto, upper right in block:「名所江戸百景」One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (Meisho Edo hyakkei) 「市中繁栄七夕祭」The City Flourishing, Tanabata Festival (Shichū hanei Tanabata Matsuri)

MarkingsOn recto, upper right, censor's seal in block: 改、巳七 (aratame, Snake 7) On recto, lower left, publisher's seal partially trimmed, in block: 魚栄 (Uoei)

Label TextTanabata, or the "Star Festival," has its origins in China, where, on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, young women would pray to a specific star, Vega, seeking to enhance their weaving and sewing skills. Around the seventh century, Japan adopted the Chinese calendar, and by the time of the Edo period (1603-1867) Tanabata was one of the five foremost festivals of the year. It celebrates a love story, when a weaver maid known as Orihime met her beloved, a cowherd named Hikoboshi. Because they were so in love, they neglected their respective weaving and livestock, and as punishment were separated by the Emperor of Heaven, with Orihime envisioned as the star Vega and Hikoboshi as Altair. They meet only once per year, in the seventh month, when their celestial paths are closest; to celebrate, people write their aspirations on colorful paper and hang them on bamboo branches. This block print shows the view of the festival as it appeared from the artist's home in Nakabashi Kano Shinmichi in 1857.

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