About This Print
This scene of courtly ladies and imperial regalia first appears as if it’s out of the Heian era (794-1185), when court ladies painted eyebrows high up on their foreheads after shaving their real eyebrows. But, these lady’s eyebrows are not shaved, suggesting an elaborate dress-up, and who is the man sitting high-up in the left panel? Could it be Emperor Meiji?
Donald Keene tell us that in June of 1880 the emperor embarked on a journey to understand the local conditions of his subjects. Included in his journey was a stop in Kyoto in July, when this print was issued. While in Kyoto he visited his aunt, Princess Sumiko, who had arranged a program of plays for his entertainment. “The performance was attended also by members of the nobility still living in the old capital, a momentary revival of their former glory.”1
While the artist would certainly not have been at the performance details of the emperor’s journey were widely reported and he would have constructed this scene with artistic license.
1 Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852-1912, Donald Keene, Columbia University Press, 2002, p. 335-337.
Print Details
| IHL Catalog | #1943 |
| Title or Description | The Glory of the Imperial Flowers 花の都御代乃榮 Hana no miyako goyo no sakae |
| Artist | Nagashima Shungyō (active 1882-1905) |
| Signature |  |
| Seal | unread seal beneath signature as shown above |
| Publication Date |  |
| Publisher | yellow cartouche:  green cartouche: 画工 長烏戻五郎 (artist Nagashima Tatsugorō) 神田區須田町四番地 (address Kanda-ku Sudachō yon-banchi) |
| Impression | excellent |
| Colors | excellent |
| condition | good - almost full-size separate sheets; unbacked; light wrinkling, minor offsetting and toning |
| Genre | ukiyo-e |
| Miscellaneous | |
| Format | vertical oban triptych |
| H x W Paper | 14 1/2 x 9 7/8 in. (36.8 x 25.1 cm) each sheet |
| H x W Image | 14 3/16 x 9 1/2 in. (36 x 24.1 cm) each sheet |
| Literature | |
| Collections This Print | |
3/13/2020
11/27/2018
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