Comment -Triptych of a busy street crowded with pedestrians during the New Year celebration as they make their way to pay holiday visits. At lower right panel, a beauty chooses a blossoming plant in a porcelain pot from a vendor, while above her three musicians perform on flute and drum. Two women play hanetsuki, a game of battledore and shuttlecock, a traditional New Year's activity for girls and women. The hanetsuki scene is overwritten with "求徃春  盛當" ("Request for Springtime, Prosperity"; "motome o haru, mori atari"), likely the title of the triptych. The center and left panel shows several couples and men roaming the street.

The left panel shows a bent old man shuffling along with a cane while the young man behind him carries an Edo kite ("Edo tako", "江戸 凧") with kanji characters on it ("Kanji kite", "ji tako", "字凧"). Next to him is a street vendor who carries a branched twig with lots of small toys. The left rim shows a worker carrying a big green box.


Series - ~


Artist - see Biography


Signature -  Ichiyûsai Kuniyoshi ga (一勇斎国芳画) on all three panels with circular date and censor's seals above; center panel with red kiri seal underneath


Publisher -  Ibaya Senzaburu (伊場屋仙三郎; I-ba-ya Senzaburō; "Ibasen" Seal on all three panels, name casette "Ibasen-do" only on right and left panel);


Image Size - 35.9 x 75.2 cm  (14 1/8" x 29 5/8")

Condition - tritych, three single panels; nishiki-e (cloured woodblock); Vertical ôban (ôban tate-e);