Scenes from the Seventh Month: Male banquet indoors, lovers under autumn leaves

Description

This print illustrates two popular pastimes of the tenth month: a festival to Ebisu, the god of wealth and commerce, and a scene of two lovers enjoying autumn leaves. Ebisu kô was the most important festival in the annual calendar for merchants. On the twentieth day of the October, merchants would entertain guests with prodigious feasts. Host and guests engaged in a mock auction, shouting, “I buy this!” “Sold!” for anything in the banquet—a ritual meant to bring good fortune to their business in the coming year. On the other hand, “hunting autumn leaves” was a leisurely pursuit of courtiers and poets, whose role is played here by a fashionable young couple.
Toyoharu cleverly juxtaposes these two activities of a different nature: one is public and worldly, while the other is intimate and dream-like. The happy effect is to make the lovers appear oblivious the outside the world. This work is from the set of twelve prints depicting two seasonal events for each month.
Maribeth Graybill
“Four Seasons In Japanese Art”: Special Installation of Japanese Gallery at UMMA: Object Labels
July 5, 2003-January 4, 2004