Horse Race at the Kamo Shrine
Unknown Artist
early to mid-1600s
Medium
Pair of six-panel folding screens, ink and color on gilded paper
Dimensions
161 × 362 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Japanese Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
Accession Number
1976.95
About this artwork
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 o...