'Sanno Festival at the Chiyoda Palace' Original Woodblock by Toyohara Chikanobu - Ca 1897

This old Japanese woodblock triptych is by Meiji era woodblock print artist Toyohara Chikanobu (1838 - 1912). This woodblock is entitled "Chiyoda no on-omote: Sanno sairei joran' (Chiyoda Outer Palace: Viewing the Sanno Festival) and depicts the Sanno Matsuri festival in 1897, a biennial festival celebrated in June with a procession from Sanno shrine in Tokyo, near Akasaka to the Hie-jinja shrine at Edo Castle.  

You can see the Korean Ambassador's grand procession wearing traditional Korean hats accompanied by a large white elephant. The elephant of 1897 was a large float made from fabric that was operated internally by men who paraded it through the streets. This parade commemorates the 1887 visit by the Chinese Emperor who presented a real elephant as a gift to the Emperor of Japan. 

Every part of this triptych flows with movement - the elephant rolls into the frame and the fabric of the elephant and flags flutter with a light breeze. Woodblock prints like these capture historic moments that were otherwise lost and hold both an artistic value & an anthropological one showing the relationships between Japan, Korea & China.  

The full triptych was originally published in 1897 by Fukuda Hatsujiro and is part of a larger collection of works. It is signed Yoshu Chikanobu. 

We have chosen to reframe this old woodblock print with our skilled team in a simple matte black wood frame. The full triptych can be found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

For further reading, see 'Chikanobu: Modernity and Nostalgia in Japanese Prints' by Bruce Coats.  

Print Size: 71 x 35 (wxh cms)