Snow, moon and flowers

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Snow, moon and flowers ( Japanese 雪 月 花 , setsu-getsu-ka or setsu gekka ) is a theme of Japanese art that was adopted from ancient China and was very popular, especially towards the end of the Edo period .

introduction

This theme came to Japan during the Heian period and is held together in various ways with its three motifs (in Japan “flowers” ​​always means cherry blossoms). Most obviously it relates to the seasons: snow = winter, moon = autumn and flowers = spring. (The short hot summer is ignored.) The triple sentence can also be understood as a representation of three whites: blue and white = winter, yellow and white = autumn and pink and white = spring.

Ukiyo-e artists loved to sell their prints in series, and hanging scrolls were also sold as a combination of three. As with other topics, the theme was combined with beautiful women, well-known landscapes (moon always over a body of water), etc.

The theme also appears as a parody, called “Mitate” (見 立 て) in Japanese. An example is given below at the end.

“Snow, moon and flowers” ​​also appear as decorations on lacquer boxes, with traditional mirrors on the back. Dances were listed in three corresponding sections, and the term also plays a role in the tea ceremony.

In modern manga , Setsu-gekka appears in connection with pretty girls. There are also songs with this title.

Examples

Katsukawa Shunshō (1726-1793) Sakai Hōitsu (1761-1828)
Shunshô SGK 3 women.jpg
Hôitsu SGK Rollbilder.jpg
from left to right:
--- Sei Shōnagon (winter)
--------------- Murasaki Shikibu (autumn)
----------------- ------- Ono no Komachi (spring) 		Snow moon flowers
  • Prints by Shiba Kōkan , signed as Suzuki Harushige (1747-1818)

  • Winter in Yoshiwara

  • Moon over Shinagawa

  • Spring (still missing)

  • Snow at Sumidagawa
    (at Edo)

  • Moon over Yodogawa
    (in Kansai)

  • Flowers in Yoshino
    (in Nara Pref.)

  • Snow, moon flowers in Tōto (in and near Edo)

  • Snow, moon flowers in Yamashiro (in and near Kyoto)

  • Snow, moon flowers in Settsu (in and near Osaka)

  • Prints by Utagawa Kunisada (1786–1865) from the series "Bandō Mitsugorō go nagori kyogen setsugekka shichi henka no uchi" with Bandō Mitsugorō III.

  • Snow, moon and flowers as a Sugoroku game

  • Schee

  • Moon (still missing)

  • Flowers

  • Snow in the morning

  • Moon (still missing)

  • Flowers (still missing)

  • Parody (mitate)
From a series here the moon: It appears on the dress





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Remarks

  1. ↑ For example Bai Juyi : "At the time of the snow, the moon and the flowers I think of you especially."
  2. ↑ Hiroshige uses Naruto's whirlpools to imitate flowers.

literature

  • Nippon Daihyakka Zensho - Encyclopedia Nipponica 2001 (E-Book Version). Shogakukan, Tokyo 1996.