Seven women walking near a football court
date: label: Date
content: 1726-1792
label: Period
content: Edo period
name: label: Artist
content: Katsukawa Shunsho 勝川春章 (1726-1792)
notes: label: School/Tradition
content: Ukiyo-e
label: Label
content: Kemari, a game in which players form a circle and kick a ball back and forth without letting it fall to the ground, was played at the Japanese imperial court as early as the seventh century. Played on a court about six meters (twenty feet) on each side with its corners marked by four trees, the sport was popular among the aristocracy and later was adopted by warriors and commoners. Kemari competitions continue today.
label: Label
content: These women carry shoes and a deerskin ball, equipment associated with the game. Kemari, however, was traditionally played by men. The scene may be an example of mitate, a play on words or images popular during the Edo period (1615-1868), in which an image is presented in an unexpected form or context. A common type of mitate in painting placed contemporary courtesans of the urban "floating world" in scenes from classical Japanese literature, such as The Tale of Genji, which is set in the imperial court. This scene may allude to a famous and frequently illustrated episode in The Tale of Genji, in which a courtier, playing kemari beneath blossoming cherry trees, immediately falls in love after he glimpses a beautiful princess whose cat pushes aside a bamboo blind. The play upon gender and class seen here would have been obvious and amusing to the painting's patron.
label: Provenance
content: To 1905
label: Provenance
content: Yamanaka & Company, to 1905 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1905 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Yamanaka & Company in 1905 [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 1920
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] Undated folder sheet note. See Original Panel List, L. pg. 18, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. The majority of Charles Lang Freer’s purchases from Yamanaka & Company were made at its New York branch. Yamanaka & Company maintained branch offices, at various times, in Boston, Chicago, London, Peking, Shanghai, Osaka, Nara, and Kyoto. During the summer, the company also maintained seasonal locations in Newport, Bar Harbor, and Atlantic City.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See note 1.
label: Provenance
content: [3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.
label: Collection
content: Freer Gallery of Art Collection
label: Exhibition History
content: Games, Contests and Artful Play in Japan (March 19 to October 23, 2005)
label: Exhibition History
content: Bicentennial Exhibition: Japanese Art (December 15, 1975 to November 10, 1976)
label: Exhibition History
content: Japanese Ukiyo-e Painting (May 2, 1973 to July 1, 1974)
label: Exhibition History
content: Centennial Exhibition, Galleries 3 and 4 (February 25, 1956 to January 1, 1963)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Japanese Art, 1955 (October 25, 1955 to November 22, 1955)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Japanese Art (October 3, 1947 to February 25, 1956)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Japanese Screens and Scrolls, 1946 (April 30, 1946 to October 3, 1947)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Japanese Screens and Scrolls (April 5, 1933 to December 8, 1941)
label: Exhibition History
content: Japanese Paintings and Pottery (May 2, 1923 to December 8, 1941)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Yamanaka and Co. 山中商会 (1917-1965) (C.L. Freer source)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
place: label: Origin
content: Japan
topic: label: Topic
content: Edo period (1615 - 1868)
label: Topic
content: woman
label: Topic
content: game playing
label: Topic
content: Japan
label: Topic
content: ukiyo-e
label: Topic
content: kakemono
label: Topic
content: Japanese Art
label: Topic
content: Charles Lang Freer collection
setName: label: Related Online Resources
content: Google Arts & Culture
label: See more items in
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Charles Lang Freer
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: F1905.308
objectType: label: Type
content: Painting
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Color and gold on silk panel
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (image): 157.8 × 82.7 cm (62 1/8 × 32 9/16 in)