Visit to the Kameido Shrine on the first day of the year of the Rabbit (Kameido Hatsumōde)

Visit to the Kameido Shrine on the first day of the year of the Rabbit (Kameido Hatsumōde) ‎from de Series The Edo Pride: Thirty-Six Enjoyments (Edo Jiman Sanjū Rokkyō) ‎
Print from a series of 36 portraying the most characteristic places and customs of Edo. It is ‎‎the result of a collaboration between Toyokuni III, who drew the portraits, and Hiroshige II, ‎‎who created the landscapes framing the main scene. The composition depicts a woman ‎‎making her first New Year's visit, or hatsumōde, to Kameido Tenmangū, a Shinto shrine. 1864 ‎‎was the Year of the Rabbit according to the lunar calendar. To protect herself from the cold, ‎‎the young woman wears several layers of clothing, a blue scarf thar covers her head and part ‎‎of her face, and places her hands inside the sleeves of her blue robe. This robe is decorated ‎‎with symbols from the genjikō game, related to the various combinations and arrangements ‎‎of five incense sticks broken into five pieces each, consisting of five vertical bars ‎‎representative of five sections of incense sticks and connecting horizontal bars thar ‎‎represent belonging to the same original incense stick and alluding to chapters from The Tale ‎‎of Genji, Genji monogatari, a classic 11th century novel. The boy carries a bamboo stalk from ‎‎which hang various ornaments and amulets associated with the Japanese New Year, the ‎‎fukusasa or lucky bamboo, such as the Okame mask or the hamaya arrow. At the back of the ‎composition, on the right-hand side, a pine tree, the most symbolic tree of the Japanese New ‎‎Year, and the famous arched bridge of the shrine, along with part of the wooden building, on ‎‎the left.‎