Japan, Edo period (1615–1868) / early to mid-1600s
Horse Race at the Kamo Shrine
The Cleveland Museum of Art catalogs Horse Race at the Kamo Shrine as painting (Japan, Edo period (1615–1868) · early to mid-1600s).
The winner is decided by the distance between horses, not by which horse finished first.
A CLOSER LOOK
The museum identifies this painting as Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink and color on gilded paper.
The museum's collection notes: Here nearly 600 figures, engaged in a bewildering array of activities, have gathered at the Kamo Shrine in Kyoto for the horse race held annually on May 5 since at least the 800s. The entire populace seems to have turned out, apparent in the diversions and revelries spread out across these resplendent byøbu. The race begins on the right screen and continues far into the left along the lower half of the composition. Here the painter's genius for depicting engaging crowd scenes, a characteristic of Heian pictorial compositions, emerges in full force. The range of textile patterns alone is astonishing. The upper regions of the composition featur
FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE
The Cleveland Museum of ArtHorse Race at the Kamo ShrineOriginal explanation based on the sources above. Images carry their own reuse terms.