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Hanga

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Bon Festival Dance by Katsushika Hokusai — Japanese Woodblock Print | Hanga

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Katsushika Hokusai
Bon Festival Dance

Bon Festival Dance

by Katsushika Hokusai

Ukiyo-e

Music Summer

Date:: c. 1804/06
Medium:: Color woodblock print; surimono
Format:: Oban
Source:: Art Institute of Chicago

Typical Price

Later reprint or reproduction (20th-century): $50–$300
Good later impression (Edo-period): $1,000–$5,000
Good early impression (vivid color, legible detail): $5,000–$20,000
Fine early impression (exceptional color and condition): $20,000–$60,000

Hokusai's genre scenes, bijin-ga (beautiful women), and miscellaneous subjects represent the breadth of his career across more than seven decades. The market for non-landscape Hokusai prints has strengthened as collectors seek beyond the most famous designs.

Description

Figures move in the circular pattern of the Bon Festival dance (Obon), a summer Buddhist rite performed to welcome and honor the spirits of the deceased. Issued as a [surimono](/glossary/surimono) around 1804–06, the composition captures the communal festivity of late summer Edo, with costumes and the rhythm of the dancers conveying both the solemnity and joyful pageantry of the occasion.