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)

Publisher Uoya Eikichi

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

Period19th c (Edo Period)

Classification(s)

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)

Vassar Exhibitions

Bunmei Kaika: Political Landscape in Early Modern and Modern Japan

Label TextUtagawa Hiroshige’s The City Flourishing, Tanabata Festival portrays the capital of Edo as powerful, peaceful, and thriving under the Tokugawa shogunate. The work was printed in the middle of the Bakumatsu (1853–1867), the transitional period from the Tokugawa shogunate to the Meiji government. The shogunate faced foreign and domestic pressure, as seen in View of Russian Procession Ashore Playing Music (seen on the far right), which resulted in anxieties of its citizens on display in On the Belly of Courage, the Hand of Anxiety (at center). In contrast to the trepidation that characterizes those works, here Hiroshige focuses on the summertime celebration of the Tanabata Festival, which marks the reunion of two star-crossed lovers from legend. In the print, strips of wishes written during the festival by merrymakers sway in the wind. An emblem of endurance, Mount Fuji is prominently featured in the lower center of the composition, situated as if it were the recipient of those desires. Positioned to the right of the mountain is Edo Castle, the residence of the Tokugawa shogunate and a symbol of strength.

Terms

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