July; Star Festival
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Edition:
- Self-printed
- Source:
- japancoll
Typical Price
$300–$3,000. Common folk art prints: $300–$800. Key value factors: Mori's cheerful folk art prints are affordably priced. His stencil technique (kappazuri) is distinctive.
Description
July — Star Festival (Tanabata) presents the celebration of the legendary annual meeting of the Weaver Star and the Cowherd Star across the Milky Way — a Chinese-derived festival that had been thoroughly naturalized into Japanese popular culture. The Tanabata festival, celebrated on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, was marked by the writing of wishes on paper strips and hanging them on bamboo branches, creating the distinctive visual of the decorated bamboo tree that appeared in every neighborhood. Mori's rendering would have captured both the astronomical romance of the legend and the vivid, community-based celebration that expressed it.
More Prints by Yoshitoshi Mori
More Summer Prints
Bull Festival at Koryuji
広隆寺牛祭
Woodblock print
February (The Annual Festival of the Fushimi Inari)
二月 (伏見稲荷大社祭)
second half 20th century
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
July (Gorgeous Procession of Yama-hoko or the Floats at the Gion Festival)
七月 (祇園祭山鉾巡行)
second half 20th century
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
August (The Bonfire Festival of the Daimonji Hill Viewed from the Sanjo Bridge)
八月 (三条大橋より大文字)
second half 20th century
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Featured in Collections
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Frequently Asked Questions
July; Star Festival was created by Yoshitoshi Mori (森義利).
July; Star Festival depicts summer.