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Y0132_Band
 
Yokohama dontaku no zu

Title: Picture of a Sunday in Yokohama
Artist: Sadahide (1807-ca. 1878)
1861:2
Format: Woodblock print
Medium: Ink and color on paper
Dimensions: triptych: 36.4 x74.2 cm (14 5/16 x29 3/16 in.)
Source: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

Dontaku, the term associated with the customary day of rest observed by foreigners, came from the Dutch word, Zontag, for Sunday. This colorful scene depicts a brass band parading along the Yokohama waterfront near a merchant's residence. Although music was occasionally performed in Yokohama, the pictorial model for this print is an earlier Nagasaki print, Red-Haired Men: Picture of a Procession of a Marching Band of Musicians. In addition to Westerners represented by the flags of the "Five Nations," this imaginary scene includes Chinese and Indian servants. [Adapted from Ann Yonemura, Yokohama: Prints from Nineteenth-Century Japan]

Visualizing Cultures image number: Y0132

Keywords: Westerners, musical instruments, Chinese, Indians, ships, flags, Yokohama, parades, "Five Nations," servants entertainment, art influences from traditional Japanese art, foreign children
 



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