Literature

Kobayashi Kiyochika is best known for his nostalgic light and shadow prints, dramatic war prints, and satirical cartoons. From the late 1890s, however, with the diminishing popularity of the color woodblock industry, Kiyochika began producing more paintings in response to popular demand. Departing from his well-established print aesthetic, he became quite adept in the execution of quick, informal on-the-spot paintings (sekiga), whose lyrical quality is reflected in these twelve small vertical paintings. While painting pictures of events of the twelve months was a popular theme since the Heian period, the composition of these individual paintings and arrangement on the silver screen demonstrate Kiyochika's updated modern sensibility. Especially, frequent use of an extreme close-up in the foreground immediately reminds us of Kiyochika's signature print series, Musashi hyakkei [One Hundred Views of Musashi Field], which revitalized Hiroshige's innovative One Hundred Views of Edo in the context of modern Tokyo.

From right to left:

January: Crane and butterbur sprouts

February: A votive plate with an image of white fox, the deity of the Inari shrine, hung under the plum tree

March: Pair dolls for the Girl's Festival

April: Red lantern under cherry tree for cherry blossom viewing

May: Shôki (Zhongkui), the god who dispels the evil and a symbol of Boy's Day

June: Fishing rod and reel

July: Mendicant monks

August: A young man sailing a boat in the sunset

September: Chrysanthemum

October: Maple leaf

November: Shichigosan, a boy wearing a formal kimono going to the shichigosan festival on November 15th, with his mother. The shichigosan is a ceremony for the well-being of three-, five-, and seven-year-old children.

December: Narcissus and a woven hat

Reference:

Henry D. Smith II, KIYOCHIKA: Artist of Meiji Japan (Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1988)Reference:

Henry D. Smith II, KIYOCHIKA: Artist of Meiji Japan (Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1988)