Toyohara Chikanobu (1838 - 1912) Chiyoda no-on omote (Events Outside the Chiyoda Palace): The Umbrella Give Away, 1897. Oban triptych.
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This fine triptych is one of many produced by Chikanobu at the end of the nineteenth century that revive memories of the life of the court at the Chiyoda Palace in the days of the old Tokugawa Shogunate, before the Meiji revolution of 1864, before the crumbling away of the older Edo values and the headlong modernisation of Japan under the new monarchy.
Chikanobu produced several different series of exquisite triptychs, made to the highest standards of life in and around the Chiyoda Palace in Edo (Tokyo). The Palace itself, also known as Edo Castle, was built in 1457 by the warrior Edo Shigetsugu in what is now the Honmaru and Ninomaru part of the Castle. It later became the seat of the old Tokugawa shogunate who completed it in 1636. Chikanobu made a series of the "inner castle" which was the ladies' quarters, imagining the traditional pastimes of women; and a second series in 1897, from which this is taken, of masculine pursuits such as boys' festivals and visits by noblemen.
The print illustrates the Umbrella Give Away - from the men’s series of the Outer Palace - Chiyoda no Onomote. Chikanobu creates a circular illustration of the townsmen as they arrive at the bottom of the left hand sheet, in a chaotic queue to pick up free parasols, a gift from the shogun, en route for a special noh theatre performance. The shogun is shown in the right hand sheet, in the palace precincts, watching the noh performance which is depicted on the upper half of the left-hand sheet, with performers on stage as the characters Jo and Uba in a play about the spirits of the pine trees of Takasago and Sumiyoshi. The extraordinary and rather lifelike carp on the left sheet is one of the decorative ridge tiles from the palace roof.
Colour, impression are fine. Condition is excellent with minor toning.
A copy of this print is in the British Museum.
Published by Gusokuya.
72 x 35 cm.
