#omocha-e

Eight Shadow FiguresbyUtagawa Hiroshige (Japanease, 1797 - 1858) from the New Edition of Shadow Making Publisher: Jōshūya Jūzō / Jūbei, c. 1842, Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper.

The prints were probably considered omocha-e (toy pictures) intended for children.The eight patterns presented here (clockwise from upper right) are a turtle on a rock, a man wearing a Chinese-style hat, a rabbit, a shachihoko (a legendary creature with the head of dragon and the body of a dolphin), an owl, a fox, a snail, and a crow. Three include written instructions on how to make the shadows move: “open your fingers within your sleeve to move the owl’s wings,” “draw up your knee for the fox’s back,” “move the chopsticks up and down [snail].”

(Source: The Minneapolis Institute of Art)