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The First Month: New Year Visits in Nichô-machi (Shôgatsu nichô-machi nenrei no zu), from the series Actors in the Twelve Months (Yakusha jûni tsuki)


「三十六ばんつゞき 役者十二つき 正月二丁まち年礼の図」
Utagawa Toyokuni I (Japanese, 1769–1825)
Publisher: Ezakiya Kichibei (Tenjudô) (Japanese)
Japanese
Edo period
1809 (Bunka 6)

Medium/Technique Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
Dimensions Vertical ôban; 38.3 x 24.9 cm (15 1/16 x 9 13/16 in.)
Credit Line William Sturgis Bigelow Collection
Accession Number11.22508
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsPrints

Catalogue Raisonné NDL-157-00-006
DescriptionRight sheet of incomplete triptych.

Nichô-machi, literally "Two Districts," was a nickname for the theater district of Edo (also called shibai-machi) because it overlapped two different administrative units, Sakai-chô and Fukiya-chô.
Signed Toyokuni ga
豊国画
Marks Censor's seal: kiwame
改印:極
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.