
Street with children in festival dress
by Ogata Gekko
- Medium:
- Mokuhanga (Japanese woodblock)
- Image courtesy of
- Saru Gallery
Description
This print captures a street scene in which children appear in festival attire, likely for one of the seasonal observances that punctuate the Japanese calendar — Shichi-Go-San in November, the Boys' or Girls' festivals in spring, or a neighborhood matsuri honoring a local shrine. Children in such prints typically wear bright kimono with elaborate obi, hold paper streamers or toys, and gather under noren curtains and shop signs that locate the scene in a specific Tokyo district. The subject belongs to the fuzokuga tradition of contemporary genre scenes, and Gekko's treatment would emphasize lively figural interaction over architectural precision. His work in this register parallels broader Meiji-era interest in documenting modern urban life as Japan transformed under the new political order. Among his prolific output spanning warrior prints, bijin-ga, and historical subjects, these documentary genre scenes provide some of the most direct visual evidence of late-nineteenth-century Tokyo street culture as experienced by ordinary residents and their children.
More Prints by Ogata Gekko
More Urban Scenes Prints

A Hundred Shades of Ink of Edo: Kiyonaga's Pipe (Edo zumi hyaku shoku: Kiyonaga no kiseru)
Woodblock print

View of Kabuki Theater from Matsuya (Ginza Matsuya yori Kabukiza), no. 3 from the series "Pictures of Ginza, First Series (Gashu Ginza dai isshu)"
1928
Color lithograph

Distant View of Mitsukoshi Movie Theater in Shinjuku from the Sixth Floor of Hoteiya (Hoteiya rokkai kara Shinjuku Mitsukoshi Musashi no kan enbo zu), no. 1 from the series "Scenery of Shinjuku (Gashu Shinjuku fukei)"
1930
Color lithograph

Spring Dusk at the Tōshō Shrine in Ueno
1948
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Frequently Asked Questions
Street with children in festival dress was created by Ogata Gekko (尾形月耕).
Street with children in festival dress depicts urban scenes, children, and festivals.