Going to a Picnic, from the series "A Brocade of Eastern Manners (Fuzoku Azuma no nishiki)"

Going to a Picnic, from the series A Brocade of Eastern Manners (Fuzoku Azuma no nishiki), is a 1778 woodblock print by Torii Kiyonaga, the fourth-generation head of the Torii school and the central figure of late eighteenth-century Edo [bijin-ga](/glossary/bijin-ga). The print depicts a group of fashionable women setting out for an outdoor meal - perhaps for cherry blossoms, autumn leaves, or simply a fine day in the garden or temple precinct - carrying among them the lacquered picnic boxes, sake flasks, and bundles that mark the period's elaborate culture of seasonal eating. Kiyonaga arranges the figures in a measured row, the rhythm of their walk reinforced by the small horizontal lines of the carried objects, and uses kimono pattern and seasonal accessories to suggest the occasion without naming a particular site. The composition belongs to his mature manner, with the tall, elongated bodies and calm spacing that became the model for Edo bijin-ga in the 1780s. His Torii school training in firm contour drawing gives the figures their decisive outline, and the restrained [nishiki-e](/glossary/nishiki-e) palette of the late 1770s keeps the seasonal cues legible without overpowering the figures. The print is preserved at the Art Institute of Chicago, whose Fuzoku Azuma no nishiki impressions document Kiyonaga's coverage of Edo's outdoor pleasures. It illustrates how the series turned the city's seasonal outings into an extended portrait of urban manners.