Wakana Hatsu-isho

Wakana Hatsu-isho draws together two motifs of Japanese New Year observance: wakana, the young herbs gathered in the seventh day of the first month for the seven-herb porridge ritual, and hatsu-isho, the first wearing of new clothes for the new year. The combination of these two motifs in a single Eishi composition reflects the elaborate calendrical observances that structured the social year of late eighteenth-century Edo and that print designers translated into seasonal genre scenes. The wakana-gathering tradition had roots in classical Heian court ritual, where the gathering of young herbs in early spring marked the renewal of the year, and the practice survived into Edo culture as a refined seasonal observance with strong literary associations. Chobunsai Eishi's print elevates the subject with the deliberate elongation and aristocratic composure that distinguished his Edo bijin-ga from the work of competing print designers. His Kano-trained ukiyo-e style was particularly suited to subjects with classical literary credentials, where the seasonal observances rewarded the painterly discipline he brought to figure design. The young women in the composition are rendered in his characteristic idiom of elongated limbs, long quiet robe-curves, and composed faces. Before turning to commercial print design, Eishi had served as a painter to the shogun under Eisen-in Michinobu, and his familiarity with the classical seasonal calendar lent authority to his treatments of New Year subjects. The impression is held by the British Museum, with documentation aggregated through ukiyo-e.org.