Horse Race at the Kamo Shrine

Unknown artist, early to mid-1600s

Download3400 × 1576 px View on a wall Edit

Medium: One of a pair of six-panel folding screens; ink and color on gilded paper
Size: Image: 161 x 362 cm (63 3/8 x 142 1/2 in.); Overall: 176.5 x 377.3 cm (69 1/2 x 148 9/16 in.); Closed: 176.5 x 64 x 12.5 cm (69 1/2 x 25 3/16 x 4 15/16 in.)
Culture: Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
Museum: Cleveland Museum of Art
Rights: CC0 — no rights reserved

Kamo Shrine in Kyoto, seen in the upper half of the left screen, has held an annual horse race on May 5th since the ninth century. Serving as a snapshot of the festivities, this pair of screens captures nearly 600 people watching the race, beginning at the bottom part of the right screen and continuing to the left. The race is a great spectacle where aristocratic riders cling to their fast and unwieldy mounts. While many of those in attendance seem in rapt attention to the main event, other vignettes depict people engaged in an array of activities. This pair of screens was likely originally part of a group of linked murals.