Kodomo asobi gajo, (子供遊び画帖, Children's Games)
Collection:CSM Museum & Study Collection
Date: 1888
Maker: Kobayashi Eitaku (小林永濯)
Engraver: Kimura Tokutaro (木村徳太郎)
Object number: O.48.12
DescriptionFour children making a snow daruma and a snow rabbit. A daruma (達磨) is a doll in the shape of a Zen Buddhist monk, Daruma (達磨), sitting in zazen (座禅) meditation. Snowmen in the Edo period were shaped like Daruma, rather than the one we imagine as 'snowman'. This print is a valuable ethnographic document that suggests that snowmen in this Daruma style were still being made in the Meiji era. Incidentally, the custom of making snow rabbits can also be seen in ukiyoe prints from the Edo period.
