Emperor and Empress Leaving the Palace after the Silver Wedding Anniversary

Panoramic Map of Toshogu Shrine in Nikko
 

Japanese Color Woodblock Print

Emperor and Empress Leaving the Palace after the Silver Wedding Anniversary

by Hasegawa Chikuyō, 1894

Illustration of Celebration Banquet at the New Imperial Palace


IHL Cat. #2287

About This Print

After the commemoration ceremonies marking the March 9, 1894 Silver Wedding Anniversary (also known as "The Great Imperial Wedding Anniversary") of Emperor Meiji and Empress Shōken were completed in the Imperial Palace, (see IHL Cat. #2285 for details), the emperor and empress left the palace to attend  an imperial military review at the Aoyama Military Parade Field. 


Reusing a Previous Design
Looking for ways to save money in a competitive business, publisher's who owned the actual woodblocks used to make a print, would occasionally reuse them, with appropriate modifications, to honor a different event than they were originally created for. Such is the case with this collection's print, which was originally issued five years earlier in 1889 to mark the promulgation of the new constitution, as shown below. Note that the only change is to the print's title in the left panel which originally read 憲法発布式鳳輦之図 and was modified to read 御出門之 銀婚式.

For another example of the reuse of woodblocks see IHL Cat. #609 and #901.

click on image to enlarge

Print Details

 IHL Catalog
 #2287
 Title or Description Emperor and Empress Leaving the Palace after the Silver Wedding Anniversary 
 御出門之圖 銀婚式  Ginkonshiki goshutsumon no zu 
 Artist Hasegawa Chikuyō (fl. c. 1870-1880s)
 Signature
翠軒竹葉 Suiken Chikuyō
 Seal (artist) yin-yang symbol (as shown above)
 Publication Date March 1894 [While the month and the year of publication has been left blank in the publisher's seal below, in what is likely an oversight, we can be sure that the print was issued in March 1894, the month and year the  Silver Wedding Anniversary of the royal couple occurred. 
 Publisher
井上茂兵衛 Inoue Mohei [Marks: pub. ref. 140; seal not shown]

publisher's name is written as 井上茂兵ヱ on the seal.
 Carver 
 
 Printer 
 Impression good
 Colors excellent
 Condition good - each sheet trimmed to image; unbacked; three separate sheets; water stain along top of right and left panels; minor soiling and toning 
 Genre ukiyo-e; kaika-e
 Miscellaneous 
 Format vertical oban triptych
 H x W Paper 
 right sheet: 13 3/4 x 9 1/16 in. (34.9 x 23 cm)
 center sheet: 13 3/4 x 9 1/16 in. (34.9 x 23 cm)
 left sheet: 13 13/16 x 9 1/16 in. (35.1 x 23 cm)
 H x W Image 
 Collections This Print
 Reference Literature 
 
last revision:
6/14/2020 created