Playing Temari

A hashira-e (pillar print) color woodblock print at the Art Institute of Chicago, this work depicts a woman playing temari, the traditional Japanese embroidered cloth ball used in indoor games of skill and rhythm. Temari games, played both in the New Year season and as ordinary pastimes, were a recurring subject in bijin-ga, providing a pretext for capturing the focused attention and physical poise of the player. Shuncho's pillar prints are among the most accomplished examples of the hashira-e format in his generation, and Playing Temari demonstrates how the extreme vertical compression of the format could be used to concentrate attention on a single figure's gesture, with the descending arc of the ball or the lifted hand of the player anchoring the vertical column. The work fits within Shuncho's broader interest in the small daily activities of Edo female life that he documented across his pillar prints and series.