“The Four Seasons” Playing in Spring

Scene of a lively New Year, with kagami mochi placed in the leftmost alcove, and decorative foods, tiered boxes of New Year dishes, toso sake, and sake cups on the tatami mats. Toso sake is a medicinal liquor made by soaking medicinal herbs in mirin, said to be capable of reviving the dead. These days, it is still drunk on New Year’s Day to ward off evil spirits.

Artist: Utagawa Kuniteru
Published: Ansei 2 (1855)
Publisher: Tsujiyasu

National Diet Library
https://www.ndl.go.jp