New Year’s Day

A print depicting New Year's Day celebrations — among the most important ritual occasions of the Japanese calendar, when families gathered for formal observances that combined religious devotion with social ceremony. Chikanobu's New Year imagery would show the distinctive foods, dress, and activities associated with the holiday: the special New Year's kimono, the formal hatsumode shrine visit, the playing of traditional games, and the social calls that structured the holiday's first days. New Year prints served as both celebratory images and seasonal keepsakes.