item details
Overview
Ukiyo-e drew on the conventions of Japanese daily life, and nigao-e 'true view' realism was a significant sub-genre of this art form. It is delightfully exemplified in this three-sheet ōban woodblock print.
Festivals, whether celebrating the seasons, anniversaries of temples and shrines, or other significant events, provided entertaining subjects. Tango ne sekku, the Boy's Festival, was long celebrated on 5 May to pray for the health and courage of boys. Today, although its commemoration is embraced in Kodomo no hi, Childrens' Day, boys still often enjoy special favour. Continuing in the Utagawa school nigao-e tradition, the little-known Utagawa Kuninao (1793-1854) adopts an ōban triptych format to capture the dynamic force of a crowd of ebullient boys rushing across the Nihonbashi Bridge, or Great Bridge of Japan. The different boys' clubs are indicated by their distinctive happi jackets and decorative lanterns. More inventively, however, Kuninao has managed to describe a different facial expression for every single figure, while conveying the headlong, careering, excitement of it all.
Source: David Bell and Mark Stocker, 'Rising sun at Te Papa: the Heriot collection of Japanese art', Tuhinga, 29 (2018), https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/document/10608
Dr Mark Stocker Curator, Historical International Art May 2019