Binzasara, A Dance with Clappers (From the series Entertainments at the Height of the Niwaka Festival in the Pleasure Quarters)
Eishōsai Chōki (Japanese)
early 1790s
- Medium
- color woodblock print
- Classification
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 24.5 x 18.2 cm (9 5/8 x 7 3/16 in.)
- Culture
- Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Japanese Art
- Credit line
- Bequest of Edward L. Whittemore
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
During the eighth lunar month of each year the geisha of the pleasure quarters would form themselves into groups and proceed around the quarter performing dances and skits. It seems likely that woodblock prints featuring the Niwaka Festival were purchased as souvenirs of the occasion. The Binzasara is a ritual dance related to agriculture and fertility performed during the month of May. Agricultural deities are addressed by the use of flowered hats and binzasara clappers.
