Bird: Asakusa Rice Fields

• Main Author: Chikanobu, Yoshu
• Format: Still Image
• Language: Japanese
• Published: Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery, Scripps College 1893
• Subjects: women; men (male humans); kimonos; banners; sandals; headgear; Ukiyo-e; North Pole
• Online Access: http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/u?/cyw,64

In the 11th month, the Tori no Ichi Festival is held at the Hanamata Washi Daimyojin Shinto Shrine of the Buddhist temple of Chokoku-ji. An important image at the temple, popular with actors and courtesans, depicts Myoken, Bodhisattva of the North Pole Star, standing on an eagle / washi. Myoken was thought to protect the nation and increase one's lifespan. Chokoku-ji was located in the rice fields / denpo of Asakusa, just west of the Shin-Yoshiwara licensed pleasure quarters, and the temple gates facing the brothels were specially opened on festival days. During the Tori no Ichi Festival, pilgrims like to buy a bamboo rake in the shape of a bear paw / kumade in order to "rake in" prosperity; often these kumade are decorated with a mask of Okame/ Otafuku, whose plump face is associated with abundance, and with a measuring box / masu for gathering up wealth. In this print the man in a brown jacket / haori is carrying a large ornamented rake, and the woman in a black overcoat holds a paper card with kumade hairpins.