Gallery 6: Senjafuda (Votive Slips)

Senjafuda translates to “thousand shrine tags.” Their original purpose was as votive slips that visitors affixed to shrine and temple gates and buildings. Initially, senjafuda were simple designs limited to the name of the worshipper. However, as visits to multiple shrines became popular, senjafuda came to depict more complex imagery. Senjafuda clubs were also established to admire, exchange, and collect these miniature prints. The senjafuda in this collection depict shrine visits, kabuki actors, bunraku theater, deities and a few other topics. Images here are depicted without margins. Clicking on an image will reveal the entire senjafuda with margins..

The prints in this section were produced for the Tokyo Senjafuda Association. The carver is identified as Choken who may have also been the artist. All were created in the 1930s.

The Senjafuda in this section are from a set of depicting the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage and were produced for the Tokyo Senjafuda Association. The carver is identified as Choken who may have also been the artist. They are from the early Showa era.

These prints are from a set depicting Arhats. The set appears to be missing 5 prints since one of the prints is not an Arhat and 16 would have been expected to have been included. In four cases, the artist chose to extend the image into the margins, an approach occasionally encountered in other Japanese prints, The presentations below adhere to the site’s convention of not showing margins. Higher resolution prints with margins can be viewed by clicking on the image. The artist has not been identified.

This set of eighteen senjafida depict floats used in festival parades. The artist and publishing date have yet to be determined.

This set of 18 senjafuda depicts Mount Fuji from views along the Tokaido road. The scenes do not appear to correspond to any of the famous Tokaido Road series by Hiroshige. The set is undated. The artist is currently unidentified.

The following Senjafuda are from the series Tokiwazu Awase Mokuroku. The kabuki portraits were designed by the artist Yoshida Eisho (aka Yoshida Unosuke) and feature actors in specific roles and plays. Additional prints by the artist can be seen in Gallery 3P.

The four senjafuda in this section are part of a set by an unidentified artist that depicts either the first 9 actors named Ichikawa Danjuro or the Eighteen Best Plays of the Ichikawa school

This set of 25 senjafuda depicts kabuki actors portrayed on hagoita. Actor names and roles are yet to be determined. In this series, the hagoita are drawn to extend outside the usual boundaries and into the margins of the senjafuda, a dramatic embellishment that is also occasionally also found in larger prints. The convention of this website is to present images without margins. Higher resolution prints with margins can be viewed by clicking on the image. The single panel images are approximately 5.1 x 14.4 cm. The three images that are two panels in width are approximately 9.6 x 14.3 cm.

Another set of kite theme senjafuda likely dating from the 1920-1930s. Note the similarity to some of the images above and the rabbit and waves image found later in this gallery. These eight images had been cropped and pasted into a collector’s book.

After Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (Taiso Yoshitoshi) (1839-1892). Miniaturization and modifications of prints by the artist that were reproduced as senjafuda.

This set of senjafuda devoted to images of fishing was produced in 1927 for the Toto Votive Tablet Association. The artist has yet to be identified.

This group of senjafuda by an unidentified artist are from the series Twelve Training Zodiac Signs and was created for a senjafuda colleting club, the Toto Nobi Association located in Chiyoda City. The date of the set has not been determined but appears to be related to the year of the rabbit. The image for monkey had a hole near the lower central margin that has been digitally “repaired” for presentation here..

These two senjafuda were acquired with the set of fishing images immediately above. One is clearly dated 1927, the same year as the fishing set. However, the slight variation in size in the first and lack of any reference to fishing in both suggest that they are not associated with that series but are likely associated with the same collecting club.

This set of pochibukuro features rituals related to the imperial court, particularly the enthronement of the emperor. These likely were printed for the 1928 enthronement of Hirohito but have not been clearly dated. Many of the image designs are similar to woodblock printed postcards published to commemorate that event. The artist has not been identified.

This set of senjafuda depicts Ema (picture horses). These wooden plaques are left as offerings by visitors of Shinto and Buddhist shrines. The reference to horses related to the original tradition of wealthy patrons donating horses. The tradition was later changed to the donation of symbolic plaques with horse paintings. Eventually, the depiction of horses was replaced by a variety of other subjects. This set was created for the Mutsumi Association for Gathering/Offering Slips in 1945. The artist of these senjafuda remains unidentified, although at least one work lists the artist as Takahashi who may be Takahashi Tounosuke (1876–1961). The set came with two promotional senjafuda for club meetings, one of which was dated 1953. Additional senjafuda with names may be associated with the set or simply reflect members of the group that were collected over time.

These senjafuda likely feature the names of individuals in the collecting group.

Two event announcements that came with the set. The fact that one is dated 1953 suggests that these were not related to the set but were additional items collected by the original collecting group member.

The Ema related senjafuda set.

The following senjafuda are all associated with images of rats and were presumably created to celebrate the year of the rat. The artists have yet to be identified. Two images that originally came from this group bare the seal or signature of Hasegawa Sadanobu III and can be found in this gallery with other works by the artist.

This Section Under Construction

The senjafuda in this section are all by the artist Hasegawa Sadanobu III (AKA Konobu)

This first set of senjafuda is from a collector’s album. The first print is without the signature and mouse seal associated with the artist but appears to be the title for the set based on its position in the album. However, the referenced theater burned down in 1893 and was located in Tokyo, whereas the other prints more likely depicted performances in Kyoto or Osaka. The three prints immediately below are from the same album but likely represent a second series of senjafuda by the artist.

Another set of senjafuda from the same collector’s album as the group immediately above. The mouse seal and signature (Konobu) indicate that the series is by Hasegawa Sadanubu III despite no signatures or seals on the other senjafuda. This set may reflect the May, 1915 performance of kanjincho at the Naka-za theater in Osaka. The actors might be Enjaku II, Kudanji III, and Ganjiro I, respectively, who appeared together in that performance.

Additional senjafuda by Hasegawa Sadanobu III (Konobu). Works noted as attributed to the artist are based on their apparent association with works with his seal and/or signature even though these do not directly appear on the specific senjafuda. It is not uncommon to find sets by the artist that have seals/signatures on just one or two prints.

This set of senjafuda depicts kabuki actors in roles from the Kawasho scene of the play Shinju Ten no Amijima. The set came from the same pre-war collector’s album that included kabuki sets by Hasagawa Sadanobu III (Konobu) displayed above. The artist for this set has yet to be positively identified, although is has been suggested to possibly by the artist Kiyomizu (aka Tokutaro Shimizu). The three actors portrayed here performed together in this play at the Nishimura-za theater in Osaka in January 1916. This set likely reflects that performance and can be dated to that year.

This pre-war set of snjafuda came from a collector’s album and depicts the Scene at Nozaki Village from the bunraku performance of Shinpan Utazaemon. The artist has not been confirmed but may be Kiyomizu (aka Tokutaro Shimizu). The names from left to right identify the sponsors of the senjafuda as Toyozawa Hirosuke II, a premier shaimsen player, the chanter Takemoto Tsugadayu V, and the master puppeteer, Yamada Risuke. Since Tsugadayu V died in 1922, the set would have been published sometime before 1923.

This set of ten senjafuda was pasted into a pre-war collector’s album. The title of the set translate to The Chronicles of Naniwa, Naniwa being a historical and poetic name for Osaka. Each senjafuda features an historical event associated with the city. The artist for the set has yet to be identified.

The senjafuda below represent additional examples of senjafuda by unidentified artists in the collection that are also not clearly associated with a specific set.