JAPANESE

• Torii gate at Ise Shrine, Mie prefecture.
• Ise Jingu 672, Dedicated to Amaterasu
• Period:Edo period (1615–1868)
• Date:17th century
• Medium:Two-panel folding screen; ink, color, and gold on paper
• Dimensions:60 x 64 1/4 in. (152.4 x 163.2 cm)

This bird's-eye view of a Shinto shrine and its environs offers a lively scene of seventeenth-century Kyoto, a genre that developed from late sixteenth-century paintings of famous sites around the capital. Entering and leaving through the red torii gate that dominates the scene are gaily clad citizens of various classes. In the street market nearby, vendors enjoy a bustling trade selling fish, rice cakes, and tobacco. Such activities, which remain to this day among the pleasures associated with shrine visits, were particularly noteworthy at the Yasaka Shrine, famous for its market and its buildings that assimilated Buddhist temple architecture. The shrine was also recognized for its prominence during the Gion Matsuri, Kyoto's most important festival.



ARTIST Kawanabe Kyosai, Japanese, 1831-1889
MEDIUM Color woodblock print on paper

• Place Made: Japan
• Standing Tiger
•       DATES 1878
• PERIOD Meiji Period
• DIMENSIONS 9 x 11 5/16 in. (22.9 x 28.7 cm) (show scale)

Utagawa: Masters of the Japanese Print, 1770–1900In this print, most likely designed to celebrate the arrival of the Year of the Tiger in 1878, Kyōsai depicts an artist’s studio with all the accoutrements of an accomplished painter, including ink, brushes, and rolls of paper. Kyōsai was celebrated for his depictions of animals, and in this print he showcases his skill with the depiction of a majestic tiger on a painted screen, an image within an image. He has cleverly rendered his signature as if it appears on the surface of the screen.