Day of the Rice God
The Day of the Rice God, an annual festival held in Japan on the first Sunday in June, is a centuries-old folk ritual in honor of the Shinto rice god Wbai-sama.Evoking Japanese traditions, Helen Hyde's Good Luck Branch reads: "The Good Luck Branch of yielding willow is strung with gay rice paste toys, emblems all, of Good Fortune, and is supposed to bring to the house, Troops of Friends." Known for her color etching and woodblock prints, Helen Hyde (1868–1919) spent more than a decade in Japan in the early part of the century.
Pictured: Helen Hyde, 1868–1919, The Good Luck Branch, 1907, color woodcut, 6 1/8 x 6 1/2 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Hyde Gillette in memory of Mabel Hyde Gillette and Edwin Fraser Gillette.
The Day of the Rice God, an annual festival held in Japan on the first Sunday in June, is a centuries-old folk ritual in honor of the Shinto rice god Wbai-sama.Evoking Japanese traditions, Helen Hyde's Good Luck Branch reads: "The Good Luck Branch of yielding willow is strung with gay rice paste toys, emblems all, of Good Fortune, and is supposed to bring to the house, Troops of Friends." Known for her color etching and woodblock prints, Helen Hyde (1868–1919) spent more than a decade in Japan in the early part of the century.