Snow Moon Flowers

Snow, Moon and Flowers(雪月花, setsu-getsu-ka or setsu gekka), a topic in art and design borrowed from old China,^[1] was quite popular in the late Edo-Period.

Introduction

This threefold theme (in Japan, flowers mean always cherry blossoms) is held together in several ways. Most obviously it refers to the seasons of the year:^[2] snow = winter, moon = autumn and flowers = spring. But one could also think it as representations of three whites: blue-white = winter, yellow-white = autumn and pink-white = spring.

Ukiyo-e artists liked to sell prints in series, sometimes even scrolls were painted to be hanged together. Artists liked to combine it with three women, three well known landscapes (moon always with reflecting water) etc.

"Snow, moon and flowers" appear also as decoration on boxes, backside of traditional mirrors etc.

Katsukawa Shunshō (1726-1793)	Sakai Hōitsu (1761-1828)
from left to right: --- Sei Shōnagon (winter) ------- Murasaki Shikibu (autumn) ------------ Ono no Komachi (spring)	Snow Moon Flowers

• Prints by Shiba Kōkan, signed as Suzuki Harushige (1747-1818)

• 

  Winter at Yoshiwara

• 

  Moon above Shinagawa

• 

  Spring (yet missing)

• Prints by Hokusai Katsushika (1760-1849)

• 

  Snow at Sumidagawa
  (at Edo)

• 

  Moon above Yodogawa
  (in Kansai)

• 

  Flowers at Yoshino
  (in Nara Pref.)

• 

  Snow, moon & flowers at Tōto (around Edo)

• 

  Snow, moon & flowers at Yamashiro (around Kyōto)

• 

  Snow, moon & flowers at Settsu (around Ōsaka)

• Prints by Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865)

• 

  Snow, moon and flowers as Sugoroku game

• Prints by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861)

• 

  Snow in the morning

• 

  Moon (yet missing)

• 

  Flowers (yet missing)

• Prints by Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858)

• 

  Snow at the Kiso road

• 

  Moon above Kanazawa (Kanagawa Pref.)

• 

  Flowers^[1] at Naruto

• 

  Meisho Snow (Inokashira))

• 

  Moon (yet missing)

• 

  Meisho Flowers (Koganei)

1. ^ Hiroshige uses whirlpools to imitate flowers

In popular culture

Literature

• Nippon Daihyakka Zensho - Encyclopedia Nipponica 2001 (E-Book version). Shogakukan, Tokyo 1996.
• In the Unbreakable Machine-Doll light novel, the Setsugetsuka Trilogy is composed of three female automaton sisters; Irori, the eldest sister, representing the snow, Yaya, the second eldest sister, representing the moon, and Komurasaki, the youngest sister, representing the flower.

Comics

• In the Unbreakable Machine-Doll manga, the Setsugetsuka Trilogy is composed of three female automaton sisters; Irori, the eldest sister, representing the snow, Yaya, the second eldest sister, representing the moon, and Komurasaki, the youngest sister, representing the flower.

Radio, animation, and television

• In the Unbreakable Machine-Doll anime, the Setsugetsuka Trilogy is composed of three female automaton sisters; Irori, the eldest sister, representing the snow, Yaya, the second eldest sister, representing the moon, and Komurasaki, the youngest sister, representing the flower.

Notes

1. ↑ E.g. Bai Juyi: “At the time of snow, moon and flowers, I think of you”.
2. ↑ The short hot summer is skipped.