A Number of People in the Street Going about Various Affairs 1868 - 1912

Okumura Masanobu's "A Number of People in the Street Going about Various Affairs," made using ink on paper, presents a vibrant snapshot of Edo period life. Dominant are the symbols of commerce and ritual: the lantern, carried by a laborer, signifies both illumination and advertisement, its inscriptions alluding to specific shops or services. The street scene itself is a stage where social roles are performed and commercial activities unfold. Consider the lantern—a beacon of guidance—echoing the classical Roman lamp, which, like the lantern, initially served to ward off darkness, both literal and spiritual. Over time, this motif has been transmuted, appearing in medieval altarpieces as a symbol of divine enlightenment and later in Dutch paintings as a domestic comfort. What we see here is not merely a functional object but a carrier of cultural memory. It is an echo of shared human experience, a psychological thread connecting us to our ancestors. This scene, bustling with everyday activity, stirs a sense of collective identity, of participating in the ongoing drama of life.