Comment - Scene of young boys taking part in a kite-flying contest. Most kites are the rectangular "Edo" kites ("Edo-tako", "江戸凧") with traditional Kanji characters ("Kanji kite", "ji tako", "字凧"). Two pairs of boys prepare to launch their kites, one child is holding the kite while the other readies the string. The boys at left have already launched their kites, joining the dozens of others already floating high in the soft blue sky.

Designs include a kite shaped like a spool of yarn (left  panel, upper right), a carp kite (left panel, center; "sakana tako", literally  "fish kite", "魚凧"), an imaginative octopus with a sash tied around its head (left panel, right; "tako tako","鮹凧"  or "たこカイト") , a fan kite with the Japanese red sun symbol (right panel, above the tumbling down Edo kite; "Sensu tako", "扇子凧"), a yakko or servant kite ("yakko tako", "奴凧"). Others feature kanji characters, while one has a portrait of Daruma and another shows a beauty. The kite-tails fluttering gaily above the rooftops of a city in the background, where a big fire watch-tower is emerging.

This woodblock print is a work of satire on the rising prices of the beginning of Keiō (慶応) era (1865-1868), a time of political unrest, preceeding the Meiji era. The affected commodities written on the Edo kites like "cotton" (wata, 綿), "sushi" (sushi, すし), or "salt" (shio, 塩). The title ("Childrens Play...") is drawn within the red cassette on the upper right panel, and some kind of appeasement for the censors.


Series - 


Artist - see Biography YOSHITORA


Signature - Yoshitora-ga (芳虎画) on every panel 


Publisher -  Enshûya Hikobei (遠州屋彦兵衛) in white cassette adjacent to the signature cassette; Blockcutter'seal (round circle above the signature cassette: Horikô Masa);  censor's seal on right panel (Ushi jū aratame, 丑十改)


Image Size - 34.6 x  71.8cm (13 5/8" x 28 1/4")+ margins as shown


Condition - triptych, three separate sheets; nishiki-e (cloured woodblock); all of vertical ôban (ôban tate-e);