Seven Lucky Gods, Year of the Dragon — Center Panel

Seven Lucky Gods, Year of the Dragon — Center Panel (七福神辰年図 中) is the central sheet of Kawanabe Kyōsui's Shichifukujin year-of-the-dragon triptych, held by Ritsumeikan University's Art Research Center (Z0173-453(2)). In the conventional Edo-Meiji iconography of the Seven Gods of Fortune, the center panel typically carries the largest of the assembled deities and the focal point of the gathering; Kyōsui's drawing combines the broad-headed, smiling figural conventions inherited from Edo-period treatments of the gods with the close attention to drapery and accessory that her Kyōsai training had given her. The print sits within the Kyōsai-Kyōsui lineage's long engagement with the Shichifukujin and other auspicious-figure subjects — her father had produced numerous Shichifukujin paintings and prints, and the iconographic program of the group remained one of the foundational subjects of Meiji popular printmaking. The Ritsumeikan ARC digital archive has made this triptych available to researchers since the early 2000s and is among the largest open digital resources for Japanese woodblock prints.