Procession of Women at the Toshogu Shrine in Ueno

With foreign delegations making official visits to the shogun, as well as the complex system of alternate attendance for distant daimyo, elaborate processions were a common spectacle in Edo. This design of a women’s procession reenacts an elaborate procession of a wealthy daimyo and provides a visual parody of official culture. Tosho Shrine was founded in 1627 in memory of the first Tokugawa shogun, Ieyasu, who was deified and given the posthumous name Tosho Daigongen, “The Great Illuminating Deity of the East.” In the center sheet a great beauty, possibly a princess or consort of a high-ranking daimyo, is carried in a palanquin. Her retinue of female attendants and servants includes women dressed in men’s clothing, like the two dressed in black outer kimonos at the front of the procession. The Tosho Shrine was located in Ueno, a popular destination for viewing cherry blossoms. The inclusion of pink blossoms along the top of the composition suggests that this may be a spring outing for a high-ranking household.