Artist: Ando Hiroshige
Medium: Original Japanese Woodblock Print
Series Title: One Hundred Famous Views of Edo #48
Edition: Original
Date: 1857
Publisher: Eikichi
Reference No.: Royal Academy of Arts, London
Size: 14 -1/2 x 9 -1/2 "
Condition: Very fine
Notes:
The banners and streamers indicate that the time is the Boy's Festival, the fifth day of the Fifth Month. The three carp are standards used by commoners in imitation of the military streamers, which they were prohibited from flying. The banners drew on a Chinese legend of a fish so strong that it could leap a waterfall—an image considered appropriate for young boys. This view thus seems to depict witty merchant-class mimicry of the samurai version of the Boy's Festival.
Originating in China, Tango festival was introduced to Japan in the eighth century as a day to wish for the good health over the coming summer months. Under Japan's first samurai regime in the fourteenth century, the festival was expanded to include wishes for the strength and good fortune of boys and young men-the future warriors of the country. Carp-shaped streamers, koi-nobori in Japanese, symbolize the great potential of male children because ancient Chinese believed that strong carp that swam upstream against the strong current turned into dragons. In this print, the square flags are emblazoned with images of Shøki, a Chinese scholar who vowed to rid the realm of evil. Thus, Shøki, became an emblem of male determination and courage.