The First Month (Sho gatsu), from the series "Fashionable Twelve Months (Furyu junikagetsu)" c. 1793

This woodblock print, “The First Month,” was made by Utagawa Toyokuni I in Japan as part of a series called "Fashionable Twelve Months". It gives us insight into the cultural and social life of the time. The print depicts a woman in elaborate dress, kneeling beside a New Year’s pine decoration. The series title, “Fashionable Twelve Months,” connects the print to the ukiyo-e tradition, which emerged in the Edo period alongside a rising merchant class. Prints like these captured the transient pleasures of urban life, showing popular actors, courtesans, and beautiful women in fashionable attire. The pine decoration, or kadomatsu, symbolizes longevity and prosperity and is displayed outside homes to welcome ancestral spirits and deities, highlighting the importance of tradition. These details offer a glimpse into the social customs and values of the time. By looking at prints like this through socio-historical sources, we can better understand the complex relationship between art, commerce, and cultural identity in 19th-century Japan.