Playing the "Hand Game"
Hasegawa Yasumasa · c. 1760 · Cleveland Museum of Art
Guide
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From the museum
This scene depicts three people playing a game in which three players make hand gestures simultaneously. The relationship among the gestures determines the winner. Known as hand games, during the eighteenth century they were popular in Japan among courtesans. In this version, the contestants use both hands, indicating a special variation such as the fox hand game, which features gestures for a fox, a village leader, and a hunter.
The museum’s own description, in English. Licence: CC0
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Details
- Maker
- Hasegawa Yasumasa (Japanese)
- Date
- c. 1760
- Medium
- hanging scroll; ink and color on paper
- Dimensions
- Overall: 39 x 55.3 cm (15 3/8 x 21 3/4 in.)
- Place of origin
- Japan
- Held by
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland · Not on view
- Credit line
- The Kelvin Smith Collection, given by Mrs. Kelvin Smith
Image: Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0