Yoshitoshi 芳年: Moon at the Bon Festival 津伎百姿

Artist: Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892) 芳年
Title: Moon at the Bon Festival 津伎百姿

Series: One Hundred Aspects of the Moon 月百姿  Date: 1887

Joyful scene of dancers having so much fun that they seem to have left the ground. They are celebrating the summer Obon festival, in which the spirits of the deceased are welcomed back to the world of the living. It is the most important festival of the summer calendar, and is celebrated during the full moon of the seventh lunar month. Stevenson notes that Yoshitoshi has chosen to use the brushwork of the Shijo school style, which is rather informal and painterly; it captures the feeling of the swaying robes and the lightheartedness of the dancers.

Condition: Excellent impression, color and condition.
Dimensions: ôban 35.6 x 24 cm
Publisher: Akiyama Buemon
Literature: John Stevenson, Yoshitoshi’s One Hundred Aspects of the Moon (San Francisco: San Francisco Graphic Society, 1992), number 46. See British Museum, Portland Art Museum, Library of Congress.
Seal: Taiso  Signature: Yoshitoshi

SKU: YOT925