Gallery 6: Senjafuda (Votive Slips)

Senjafuda translates to “thousand shrine tags.” Their original purpose was as votive slips that visitors affixed to shrine and temple gates and buildings. Initially, senjafuda were simple designs limited to the name of the worshipper. However, as visits to multiple shrines became popular, senjafuda came to depict more complex imagery. Senjafuda clubs were also established to admire, exchange, and collect these miniature prints. The senjafuda in this collection depict shrine visits, kabuki actors, bunraku theater, deities and a few other topics. Images here are depicted without margins.

The prints in this section were produced for the Tokyo Senjafuda Association. The carver is identified as Choken who may have also been the artist. All were created in the 1930s.

The Senjafuda in this section are from a set of depicting the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage and were produced for the Tokyo Senjafuda Association. The carver is identified as Choken who may have also been the artist. They are from the early Showa era.

These prints are from a set depicting Arhats. The set appears to be missing 5 prints since one of the prints is not an Arhat and 16 would have been expected to have been included. In four cases, the artist chose to extend the image into the margins, an approach occasionally encountered in other Japanese prints, The presentations below adhere to the site’s convention of not showing margins. Higher resolution prints with margins can be viewed by clicking on the image. The artist has not been identified.

The four senjafuda in this section are part of a set by an unidentified artist that depicts either the first 9 actors named Ichikawa Danjūrō or the Eighteen Best Plays of the Ichikawa school

This set of 25 senjafuda depicts kabuki actors portrayed on hagoita. Actor names and roles are yet to be determined. In this series, the hagoita are drawn to extend outside the usual boundaries and into the margins of the senjafuda, a dramatic embellishment that is also occasionally also found in larger prints. The convention of this website is to present images without margins. Higher resolution prints with margins can be viewed by clicking on the image. The single panel images are approximately 5.1 x 14.4 cm. The three images that are two panels in width are approximately 9.6 x 14.3 cm.

This set of senjafuda devoted to images of fishing was produced in 1927 for the Toto Votive Tablet Association. The artist has yet to be identified.

These two senjafuda were acquired with the set of fishing images immediately above. One is clearly dated 1927, the same year as the fishing set. However, the slight variation in size in the first and lack of any reference to fishing in both suggest that they are not associated with that series but are likely associated with the same collecting club.