Feb 1, 2021
UTAGAWA HIROSHIGE / EIGHT SHADOW FIGURES / c. 1842
from the new edition of shadow making series which were probably considered omocha-e (toy pictures) intended for children. the eight patterns presented here (clockwise from upper right) are a turtle on a rock, a man wearing a chinese-style hat, a rabbit, a shachihoko (a legendary creature with the head of dragon and the body of a dolphin), an owl, a fox, a snail, and a crow. three include written instructions on how to make the shadows move: “open your fingers within your sleeve to move the owl’s wings,” “draw up your knee for the fox’s back,” “move the chopsticks up and down [snail].”
