Advanced Search 
「新板風流五節句遊 五月 岩井半四郎」
The Fifth Month (Gogatsu): Actor Iwai Hanshirô IV and Two Teahouse Waitresses Arranging Flowers, from the series Fashionable Amusements of the Five Festivals, Newly Published (Shinpan fûryû gosekku asobi)
「新板風流五節句遊 五月 岩井半四郎」
Utagawa Toyokuni I (Japanese, 1769–1825)
Japanese
Edo period
1790s
Medium/Technique
Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
Dimensions
Horizontal ôban; 26.7 x 39.9 cm (10 1/2 x 15 11/16 in.)
Credit Line
William Sturgis Bigelow Collection
Accession Number11.13569
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAsia, Prints and Drawings
ClassificationsPrints
During the Edo period, the fifth day of the fifth month—now a Japanese national holiday known as Children’s Day--was a summer holiday focusing on little boys, just as the third day of the third month celebrated little girls. The flowers associated with the festival were irises, partly because of the season and partly because one of the names for them, shōbu, is a pun on “military victory,” an auspicious slogan in a society ruled by a hereditary warrior class.
Signed
Toyokuni ga
豊国画
豊国画
Marks
No censor's seal
No publisher's mark
改印：なし
版元：なし
No publisher's mark
改印：なし
版元：なし
ProvenanceBy 1911, purchased by William Sturgis Bigelow (b. 1850 - d. 1926), Boston [see note 1]; 1911, gift of Bigelow to the MFA. (Accession Date: August 3, 1911)
NOTES:
[1] Much of Bigelow's collection of Asian art was formed during his residence in Japan between 1882 and 1889, although he also made acquisitions in Europe and the United States. Bigelow deposited many of these objects at the MFA in 1890 before donating them to the Museum's collection at later dates.
NOTES:
[1] Much of Bigelow's collection of Asian art was formed during his residence in Japan between 1882 and 1889, although he also made acquisitions in Europe and the United States. Bigelow deposited many of these objects at the MFA in 1890 before donating them to the Museum's collection at later dates.