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A Shinto Priest, Three Women and a Child
Katsushika Hokusai 葛飾北斎 (1760-1849)
ca. 1799-1801
- Medium
- Ink, gold, and color on paper
- Classification
- Paintings
- Dimensions
- H x W (overall): 175 x 179 cm (68 7/8 x 70 1/2 in)
- Culture
- Japanese
- Museum
- Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Asian Art
- Credit line
- Gift of Charles Lang Freer
- Rights
- CC0 (Smithsonian Open Access), 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 Smithsonian Institution
About this work
This painting depicts a Shinto priest blessing young women who bear iron cooking pots perched on their heads. One leads a robust young child by the hand. The festival, in which young women carry pots upon their heads, was probably performed at the Tsukuma Shrine in the Omi region around Lake Biwa, to the east of Kyoto. The painting combines strong, expressive brushwork, seen in the representation of the tree and its foliage, with clear, detailed rendering of the figures, their gestures, and their colorful costumes.
