Kagura

This Kaei-era color woodblock print ([nishiki-e](/glossary/nishiki-e)), dated 1848-1852 and held by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco at the Legion of Honor (accession number 54755.644), depicts a scene from Kagura, the ancient Shinto dance and music tradition that flourishes in shrine festivals throughout Japan. Kagura embraces a wide repertoire of sacred dances performed for the kami, from the highly stylized court dances of the imperial palace to the rougher village rituals associated with local shrines, and it has been a central subject of Japanese visual culture from the medieval period onward. Utagawa Yoshiume's print treats the subject in the small chūban format characteristic of Osaka kamigata-e, at dimensions of approximately 24 by 17.1 cm. The print belongs to a group of related Kaei-era sheets by Yoshiume in the Legion of Honor's holdings, all taking subjects from Nō, Kagura, and other classical sources. The sheet was given to the museum by Miss Carlotta Mabury and is part of its collection of Japanese woodblock prints, where it represents the way Osaka kamigata-e designers engaged with the ritual heritage of premodern Japan.