Japan, Girls Playing on Konkonchiki Game
Yokohama, Japan: c 1890. Hand-tinted albumen print, 7 7/8 x 10 1/4 inches (200 x 260 mm), numbered B 1085 and captioned in negative at lower right. Tiny in-negative defects creating white spots. Unmounted; housed in an archival mat with clear mounting corners.
[Bennett GDG, p. 158; Syracuse University Art Museum, no. 1989.236; Nagasaki University Library, Catalog Number : 4549].
A playful studio scene of 4 girls playing a game of konkonchiki or tsurigitsune. The objective of the game was to put one’s hand through a loop that had been created in the middle of a long sash and grab a cup of sake that was placed on a stand behind the loop. The player should remove his or her hand before the other participants could close the loop and trap you.
Players who are not able to grab the sake cup and remove his or her hand from the loop would drink the cup of sake. This game was believed to be played by geisha at parties and New Year celebrations. A children’s version of the game uses water instead of sake. A "gekkin" (moon lute) is hanging on the alcove pillar.
Condition: Very good.
Item number: 1776
Price: $375.00
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