The Sixth Month (Roku-gatsu)

Catalog note / 解説

Ishikawa Toyomasa was a print designer who specialised in pictures of children. This print belongs to a series of twelve prints entitled ‘The Twelve Months’, which depicts children at play in each month of the calendar year. In this, the sixth print of the series, five boys celebrate the Gozu Tenno Festival in Edo (present-day Tokyo) in the sixth month. The festival honours the Buddhist deity Gavagriva (in Japanese, Gozu Tennô), a god of good health and the guardian deity of the Jetavana monastery (in Japanese, Gion Shôja) in India. Festivals honouring the same deity are held throughout Japan, the most well-known being the Gion Festival in Kyoto. Materials: Woodblock print on paper