A New Year’s Game in the Inner Palace: Yōshū Chikanobu’s Hanetsuki Triptych

A small shuttlecock hovers high above three women in brilliant kimono. Their positions carry our gaze from one sheet to the next: a raised battledore at the left, a poised movement in the center, and an attentive figure at the right. In this 1895 triptych from Yōshū Chikanobu’s Chiyoda Inner Palace series, the simple action of a New Year’s game becomes a carefully staged moment of grace.

What is hanetsuki?

Hanetsuki is a Japanese game played with wooden battledores and a small shuttlecock. It has long been associated with New Year celebrations. Chikanobu captures the instant between strikes, when everyone’s attention is drawn upward. The shuttlecock is tiny, but it gives the wide composition a center of action and a reason for the figures’ different gestures.

Three panels, one continuous moment

The triptych format allows the scene to breathe. Each woman has her own space, yet the direction of their glances and the movement of their sleeves link the three sheets. There is almost no setting behind them. Against the light ground, the silhouettes remain clear, and the patterned garments take on an extraordinary presence.

Take a closer look at the clothing. Floral motifs, layered hems, contrasting colors, and long flowing sleeves create visual movement even where the figures stand relatively still. The pale background is not empty so much as deliberate: it keeps the viewer’s focus on the rhythm of the game and the artistry of the textiles.

Looking back from the Meiji era

Chikanobu created the Chiyoda Inner Palace series decades after the end of the Tokugawa shogunate. Its scenes offer a Meiji-period vision of women’s life in Edo Castle’s inner quarters, rather than a photograph-like record of a particular day. That perspective makes the triptych doubly interesting: it shows a seasonal custom while revealing how the recent Edo past could be imagined and celebrated in print.

With a shuttlecock, three performers of a game, and a great expanse of open paper, Chikanobu transforms a fleeting New Year’s pastime into a memorable image. 🌸