"Hatsumode (A Visit to a Shrine on New Year's Day) (1)"

Hatsumode, the first shrine visit of the New Year, was among the most widely depicted seasonal customs in Meiji and Taisho-era woodblock prints. This composition likely shows figures in formal winter kimono making their way along a shrine path, possibly beneath torii gates or through a crowd of similarly dressed visitors. The numbered subtitle indicates this is the first in a multi-part series on the subject. Compositionally, Shuntei would have used the procession of figures to create spatial depth, layering figures at varying distances against architecture or pine and cedar trees. The muted palette appropriate to winter—grey-blue skies, white snow accents, subdued textile patterns—contrasts with the festive quality of the subject, a tension characteristic of refined Meiji-era genre printing.