Children at Ohitaki Festival by Yokoyama Kazan

Children at Ohitaki Festival 1823

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print, ink, woodblock-print

print

asian-art

ukiyo-e

figuration

ink

woodblock-print

genre-painting

watercolor

Dimensions: 15 1/4 x 9 7/8 in. (38.7 x 25.1 cm) (image, sheet)

Yokoyama Kazan created this print, "Children at Ohitaki Festival," using woodblock and ink in the Edo period. The print portrays children participating in a fire festival, a vibrant expression of community and spiritual life. Consider the festival itself, a moment where social class distinctions blur. The children, regardless of their backgrounds, unite in this shared cultural experience. Kazan captures their joy and excitement, inviting us to reflect on the inclusive nature of such events. During the Edo period, festivals were crucial for social cohesion, offering a break from the strict hierarchies of the time. There is an emotional intensity captured in the children's faces and gestures. Kazan preserves a vision of childhood bound to community identity, while offering a perspective on cultural practices that continue to resonate.

Comments

minneapolisinstituteofart over 1 year ago

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Typically held in the eleventh lunar month, ohitaki, the sacred fire festival, was wildly popular among children. After sweets and seasonal fruits are offered to the gods, they are distributed to the children at the end of the festival. While towns host full-scale festivals at local shrines, households that engage in work that makes use of fire, such as restaurants, textile dyers and blacksmiths, make fires in their front yards to demonstrate their appreciation to the god of fire. The small size of the fire in this print suggests that it depicts such a private celebration. When the fire dies down, people roast fruit in the embers. That may be why the three boys in this print are looking at the fire so excitedly. As ohitaki marks the end of autumn and beginning of winter, it is an appropriate illustration for the autumn-themed poems included here.