The First Calligraphy of the New Year (Kissho hajime), from the illustrated book "Colors of the Triple Dawn (Saishiki mitsu no asa)"

The First Calligraphy of the New Year (Kissho hajime), from the illustrated book Colors of the Triple Dawn (Saishiki mitsu no asa), dated 1782 in the Art Institute of Chicago, is a leaf from one of Torii Kiyonaga's most refined ehon projects. Kissho hajime, also called kakizome, was the auspicious first calligraphy practice performed in the second day of the new year, when households of every rank put brush to paper to invite good fortune for the coming twelve months. Kiyonaga sets the ritual in a domestic interior where women, children and an attendant gather around a writing desk; the brush hovers, the inkstone is freshly prepared, and the moment is suspended between intention and mark. As an album rather than a sheet print, the design exploits the binding format with a horizontal compositional rhythm, allowing the eye to travel across the participants as if turning the page itself were part of the ceremony. Saishiki mitsu no asa was prized for its sophisticated colour printing—the title's reference to triple dawn alludes to the first three days of the year and to the carefully layered palette—and the Art Institute holds the work as a record of the high point of Edo book illustration. The print exemplifies how Kiyonaga extended Edo bijin-ga out of the pleasure quarters into seasonal observance, and how the Torii school's draughtsmanship adapted naturally to the intimate scale of the ehon. For collectors, leaves from Saishiki mitsu no asa are sought after as evidence of Kiyonaga's ability to compress the monumentality of his standing-figure prints into the compact rhythm of a luxury album.