Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III)

1786-1865

Scenes for the Twelve Correspondences According to the Ise Almanac, Middle Section: Nozuku, Cleaning the Well in the Seventh Month
(Reki chuden tsukushi, Ise goyomi mitate juni choku: Nozuku, Fumuzuki no Sarashi-i)

signed Kochoro Toyokuni ga with artist's red Toshidama seal, publisher's seal Terifuricho, Ebisuya (Ebisuya Shoshichi of Kinshodo), with censor seals Hama (Hama Yahei) and Kinugasa (Kinugasa Fusajiro), ca. 1847-48

oban tate-e 14 5/8 by 10 1/8 in., 37.2 by 25.7 cm

In the Reki chu dan zukushi series, Kunisada compared each of the juni choku (Twelve Correspondences) with one of the twelve months. The juni choku were a feature of Edo-period astronomy which marked chronological series of days as either lucky or unlucky, depending on the orientation of the Big Dipper. This composition compares Nozuku, which roughly translates to 'eliminating,' to July, and depicts a bijin cleaning a well.

Ise goyomi, is a generic term for calendars published by the calendar makers of the towns of Uji (site of the Inner Shrine) and Yamada (site of the Outer Shrine). From the late seventeenth century, the lower-ranking priests of Ise called oshi, who had previously distributed calendars made in Kyoto (Kyogoyomi) and Niu (Niugoyomi), began distributing the Isegoyomi as gifts together with the amulets of the Grand Shrines (Jingu taima) which they delivered to their clients each year's end.

Reference:
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (mfa.org), from the Bigelow Collection, accession no. 11.42551

(inv. no. 10-0873)

price: $950