Sunrise on New Year's Day at Kanazawa

This Art Institute of Chicago surimono depicts the first sunrise of the New Year at Kanazawa, the celebrated meisho on the coast south of Edo whose dawn view across the bay was a favorite subject for poets and painters alike. Hatsuhinode - the year's first sunrise - was the central image of New Year auspiciousness in Japanese culture, and a Kanazawa sunrise carried additional weight because of the place's literary lineage and its inclusion among the eight celebrated views of the area (Kanazawa hakkei). Hokkei would have rendered the scene with attention to atmospheric effects: the gradient of dawn sky, the silhouette of pines or shore architecture, perhaps the distant sails of boats catching the year's first light. The combination of meisho specificity, hatsuhinode auspiciousness, and the literary echoes of Kanazawa hakkei made the subject ideal for high-prestige New Year surimono commissioned by poetry circles to mark the year's most important moment. Inscribed kyoka verses would have engaged the place's classical associations and the specific occasion of the print's commission. The Art Institute's impression preserves the refined printing of the small shikishiban format.