Boys' Festival (Tango no Sekku) procession across the Nihonbashi Bridge

<em>Ukiyo-e</em> drew on the conventions of Japanese daily life, and <em>nigao-e </em>'true view' realism was a significant sub-genre of this art form. It is delightfully exemplified in this three-sheet <em>ōban </em>woodblock print.

Festivals, whether celebrating the seasons, anniversaries of temples and shrines, or other significant events, provided entertaining subjects. <em>Tango ne sekku</em>, 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 <em>Kodomo no hi</em>, Childrens' Day, boys still often enjoy special favour. Continuing in the Utagawa school <em>nigao-e</em> tradition, the little-known Utagawa Kuninao (1793-1854) adopts an <em>ōban </em>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 <em>happi</em> 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', <em>Tuhinga</em>, 29 (2018), https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/document/10608

Dr Mark Stocker   Curator, Historical International Art   May 2019