shigatsu (The Fourth Month)

Toyohara Chikanobu, artist

1838–1912

shigatsu (The Fourth Month), 1890, Meiji period (1868–1912)

Portfolio/Series title: Nenju gyoji (Calendar of Eastern Customs)

Where object was made: Japan

Material/technique: color woodcut

Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 359 x 234 mm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 14 1/8 x 9 3/16 in
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 359 x 234 mm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 14 1/8 x 9 3/16 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 19 x 14 in

Credit line: Museum purchase: Lucy Shaw Schultz Fund

Accession number: 2007.0062.04

Not on display

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Label texts

Exhibition Label:
"Time/Frame," Jun-2008, Robert Fucci, Shuyun Ho, Lauren Kernes, Lara Kuykendall, Ellen C. Raimond, and Stephanie Teasley
The theme of “annual customs” in Japanese art depicts rituals, customs, and festivals in different times of a year. Each of these prints describes an important custom of a month. As a part of a larger agenda of modernizing the country, the Meiji government changed the calendar system from lunar to the solar-based Gregorian calendar in 1873. However, when Chikanobu created this set in 1890, the depicted customs still followed the lunar system. For example, the Gion festival is depicted in the sixth month instead of July, as it is held today. It was not until after 1945 that Japan completed converting the dates for traditional customs according to the solar calendar. This lengthy transition period of the two systems exemplifies the notion that calendars are not just systems of dates, but embody cultural and social values. To read the prints in order, start at the top right corner and proceed top to bottom from right to left.