About This Print
This print is from a series of 32 scenes documenting life for the elite during the later days of the shogunate. In this print, samurai have gathered in a large reception hall in the Chiyoda Outer Palace to "hear the year's first chanting of noh at Edo Castle." 1 The inscription in the center of the print starts off, "Every year on the evening of the third of the New Year, the first dance of the year is held in the main hall...."2 The inscription goes on to tell us that "selections were performedfrom Oimatsu, Takasago and other plays. The different schools of noh would taketurns annually to present the chants."3
 click on image to enlarge | About The Series The Chiyoda Outer Palace (Chiyoda no on-omote) series of 1897, together with Chikanobu's 1895-1896 series Chiyoda Inner Palace (Chiyoda no Ōoku), provided detailed depictions of life in and around Edo Castle before the Meiji Restoration of 1868. While the Chiyoda Inner Palace series focused on women in the private quarters of the palace, Chiyoda Outer Palace focused on the society of men, centered on the shogun, inside and outside the castle. The thirty two prints (including one hexaptych) show "activities which Chikanobu may have participated in when he was part of the shogun's retinue. This set, too, while more authentic because of Chikanobu's personal experiences, is also an artistic representation, and focuses on the elite side of life in the late Edo period."4 The activities in the Chiyoda Outer Palace series are set both "in the more public areas and grounds of the castle and beyond the castle precincts...as far away as the shogunal mausoleum at Nikkō."5 As with the Chiyoda Inner Place series, the prints were often compiled into albums by both collectors and the publisher. The album of prints shown to the left is complete and includes a table of contents, but album containing less than the full set of prints were also assembled. |
2 Princeton University Art Museum https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/collections/objects/50952
3 The British Museum http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3069321&partId=1
4 Chikanobu: Modernity and Nostalgia in Japanese Prints, Bruce A. Coats, Hotei Publishing, 2006, p. 170.
5 Princeton University Art Museum https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/collections/objects/24904
Print Details
| IHL Catalog | #1173 |
| Title or Description | First Chanting of Noh at the New Year O-utai zome 御謡初 |
| Series | Chiyoda Outer Palace 千代田之御表 Chiyoda no on-omote |
| Artist | Yōshū Chikanobu (1838-1912) |
| Signature |  |
| Seal | Toshidama 年玉 (as shown above) |
| Publication Date | April 6, 1897 (Meiji 30, 6th month, 1st day) |
| Publisher |  [Marks: pub. ref. 070; similar to seal ref. 30-062] |
| Carver |  柘植刀 つげかたな Tsuge Kata na |
| Impression | excellent |
| Colors | excellent |
| Condition | good - backed with heavy album paper; soiling upper left of center panel; three separate sheets |
| Genre | ukiyo-e |
| Miscellaneous | |
| Format | vertical oban triptych |
| H x W Paper | 13 3/4 x 9 1/4 in. (34.9 x 23.5 cm) each sheet |
| H x W Image | same as paper size |
| Literature | |
| Collections This Print | The Metropolitan Museum of Art JP-3562; The British Museum 1906,1220,0.1620.1-3; Rekibun Digital Museum 87201393; Ritsumeikan University UP2379, 2380, 2381; Tokyo Metropolitan Library 614-C1-3; Princeton University Art Museum 2005-90.3 a-c |
4/26/2020
3/7/2020
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