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 THIS ITEM IS SOLD !!!!!Edo period print of 7 boys celebrating the Moon Festival,the artist is Ishikawa Toyomasa, a pupil of Toyonobu, much influenced by Harunobu. eighth in the series Furyu junigetsu, 'A modern/fashionable twelve months' and the five boys in the foreground are playing Imomushi 'caterpillar' . 'Moon-watching' held on the twelve day of the eighth month.
the color has faded somewhat as back in edo days,the color was not as loud as later period,need i mention Meiji with its kabuki theme?another reason for lighter color is the vegetable dye used which tend to fade thru the passage of time.
tipped along the upper margin to a sheet of paper which is torn on the left side.
Print itself is in fairly good condition,some slight stain and foxing on top,a small tear at the lower right corner.
Otsukimi is a Japanese tradition dating back to the Heian period
(794-1185 AD), when the evening was marked with poetry and music by
court aristocrats. The celebration later spread to warriors,
townspeople and farmers, and became a harvest festival. The "harvest
moon" is an occasion for thanksgiving and partying. Seasonal displays
of pampas grass (susuki), flowers, fruits and vegetables, and tiny,
skewered dumplings (dango ) are placed on the veranda as an offering to
the moon. It is said that displaying susuki, which resembles the rice
plant, will ensure a good harvest. Eating dango-made from rice pounded
into paste and shaped into spheres like the moon-made people feel like
they were sharing a meal with the lunar god.
Moon viewing is a common theme in Japanese poetry, particularly in waka
and haiku. It ranks with snow viewing and hanami (cherry-blossom
viewing) as the three most favored settings for declarations of love and
poetic outpourings of the soul.
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