Customs of Children: Boys Playing War Game

This print belongs to a genre depicting children's games and customs (kodomo fūzoku) that was popular throughout the Meiji period, particularly as interest in both nostalgia for Edo customs and contemporary childhood intensified. Boys playing at military games reflects the martial enthusiasm that accompanied Japan's wars with China and Russia in the 1890s and 1904–05. Shuntei likely depicts a group of boys in divided teams, carrying toy flags or bamboo swords, arranged in active, dynamic poses that contrast with the more composed figure studies of his bijin-ga work. The multi-figure composition with overlapping forms and abbreviated landscape setting shows his illustrator's facility with narrative groupings. The use of bold primary colors for the boys' clothing enlivens the scene without resort to the refined gradation of his adult figure prints.