The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of September 15, 2026

A hanging scroll depicts a vertical festival scene. In the lower third, a large red shrimp figure sits on a wheeled cart surrounded by light-skinned figures and floats. Colorful banners, umbrellas, and structures fill the center. Above, a winding line of people recedes toward a hill on the left in the upper third below Japanese calligraphy and two red seals in the upper right corner.

The Sand-Carrying Festival (Sunamochi Matsuri)

1856

Sakai Basai

(Japanese, dates unknown)
Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
Painting only: 128.6 x 56.5 cm (50 5/8 x 22 1/4 in.); Including mounting: 193.7 x 77.5 cm (76 1/4 x 30 1/2 in.)
Kelvin Smith Fund 1991.44
Location: Not on view

Description

Dredging waterways to preserve their function once required the cooperation of large numbers of people, seen at the top of this painting. Sand-carrying festivals were historically associated with religious rites or gathering alms to construct places of worship, and involved not only the labor of collecting sand from rivers but also parades and performances marking the event. Kyoto’s Kamo River has been dredged many times over the centuries, including in 1856, the year this image was made. Although the title at the upper right says Taihei Kakan, or “Peaceful, Beautiful View,” the painter’s delightful scene reminds his audience that at the best of times, peace may have little to do with quiet.

Sakai Baisai was a student of literati painter Yamamoto Baiitsu (1783–1856). He was active until around 1879, when he relocated to Kobe to make his living as a design painter on porcelains destined for export.
  • ?–1991
    (Andreas Leisinger, Tokyo, Japan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1991–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Turner, Evan H. "Selected 1991 Acquisitions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 79, no. 2 (1992): 63-83. Reproduced: p. 72; Mentioned: p. 83 www.jstor.org
    Grossman, Nancy, James T. Ulak, Marjorie Williams, and Laurence Channing. Art of Japan: Masterpieces from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2005. p. 113
  • Japanese Gallery 235 Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (January 2-July 9, 2018).
  • {{cite web|title=The Sand-Carrying Festival (Sunamochi Matsuri)|url=false|author=Sakai Basai|year=1856|access-date=15 September 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1991.44