About This Print
One of forty prints from the series Crazy Pictures of Famous Places in Tōkyō (Tōkyō kaika kyōga meishō) picturing "Tori no machi" (Bird Day) festivities in the Senzuko area of Tokyo, where one gives thanks for a safe year and prays for happiness in the next. The reveler in the back is holding a lucky kumade (bamboo rake) which is believed to rake in good luck.
The prints were originally issued as a pair of chūban size prints on an ōban size sheet as shown left.
About This Comic Series
Yoshitoshi's comic series titled Crazy Pictures of Famous Places in Tōkyō was published in 1881. These satirical images parodied life in modern Tokyo with scenes ranging from an octopus refusing to be sold at a fish market to physical mishaps on the street to encounters with ghosts and monsters.
Source: Asian Art Museum of San Francisco website http://www.aamdocents.org/AAM/Special/07_05Yoshitoshi/2-33OctopusFightsBack.htmYoshitoshi designed for his urban audience many prints that parodied modern life in Tokyo, including several half-size series. Some have a moral message, and most are satirical or amusing, often with a hard edge to the humor. The title of this series parodies Hiroshige’s several sets of Famous Places in the Eastern Capital. Yoshitoshi signed these pictures “crazy pictures by Yoshitoshi.”
Print Details
| IHL Catalog | #312 |
| Title | The Tori-no-machi Festival at Senzoku 千束酉の町 大きな唐の芋頭をかつぐ Senzoku torinomachi ōkina tō no imo gashira o katsugu |
| Series | Tōkyō kaika kyōga meishō (東京開化狂画名所) -translated as "Comic Pictures of Famous Places Amid the Civilization of Tōkyō" or "Crazy Pictures of Famous Places in Tōkyō" or "Crazy Pictures of Famous Places in Tōkyō" |
| Artist | Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892) |
| Signature | 芳年戯画 Yoshitoshi giga (playfully drawn by Yoshitoshi) |
| Seal | none |
| Date | 1881 January |
| Publisher | Tsunajima Kamekichi 綱島亀吉 (family name of the publisher Tsujiokaya Kemekichi) [Marks: pub. ref. #549] Publisher's seal appears on the bottom print of the uncut oban-size sheet. [note: Marks reads the characters 綱島 as "Tsunajima" while others, including the British Museum, read those characters as "Tsunashima".] |
| Carver | |
| Impression | good |
| Colors | excellent |
| Condition | fair - vertical center fold almost splitting paper, wrinkling and soiling |
| Genre | ukiyo-e; giga (comic print) |
| Miscellaneous | |
| Format | horizontal chūban (issued in pairs on ōban sheets) |
| H x W Paper | 6 7/8 x 9 1/8 in. (17.3 x 23.2 cm) |
| H x W Image | 6 3/8 x 8 1/4 in. (16.2 x 21 cm) not including cartouche in right margin |
| Collections This Print | Tokyo Digital Museum 87102018; Tokyo Metropolitan Library 5259-10ア(13) |
| Reference Literature |
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