The Imperial Phoenix Carriage Leaves the Palace for the Military Review at Aoyama (right panel)
- Date:
- 1892
- Medium:
- Color woodcut; right panel of a triptych
This 1892 color woodcut, the right panel of an originally three-panel [triptych](/glossary/triptych) and held by the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco, depicts the Meiji Emperor's phoenix carriage departing the Imperial Palace for a military review at Aoyama. Published by Nagamatsu Sōgorō, the print belongs to the dense genre of imperial procession scenes that flourished in Tokyo print shops during the early 1890s. The right panel concentrates on the rear of the procession: the imperial guard, court officials in European-style uniforms, and standard-bearers exit the Nishinomaru gates of the palace grounds, the documentary specificity of their uniforms and equipage indexing the modernization of court ceremonial under the Meiji state. The composition's logic is one of disciplined hierarchical display, in which each rank takes its assigned place behind the unseen Emperor and the procession unfolds as a choreographed performance of monarchical sovereignty. Such prints functioned as state-aligned visual reporting on the rituals of constitutional monarchy and helped construct the public image of the Meiji imperial household. The print is held under accession number 1963.30.5338 in the Achenbach Foundation collection at the Legion of Honor.
1894
Color woodblock print; oban triptych
銀婚大典之御儀式
1894
Color woodblock print; oban triptych
1892
Color woodcut; left panel of a triptych
1894
Color woodblock print; oban triptych
The Imperial Phoenix Carriage Leaves the Palace for the Military Review at Aoyama (right panel) was created by Watanabe Nobukazu (渡辺延一) in 1892.