Procession of the Autumn Insects

A lively parade of proudly marching insects satirizes the procession of a feudal lord, or daimyō 大名, and his retinue. The movement of daimyō with their samurai and servants was a frequent sight during Japan’s Edo period (1603–1868). Regulations required many of them to alternate a year at home in their domain with a year in the city of Edo, under the watchful eye of the ruling shōgun.

In the painting, grasshoppers lead the party, followed by wasps carrying leaves. Behind them, crickets and praying mantises hold long-stemmed flowers aloft like banners. A group of grasshoppers carrying a cricket cage suggest the daimyō’s sedan chair; they are followed by a bell cricket who may represent the lord himself, mounted on a larger type of cricket. The wasps that surround him may be his personal bodyguards. The procession concludes with more wasps bearing the daimyō’s luggage, which is represented by a large wasp nest and berries on stems. Two grass-hoppers carrying long rice stalks seem to mark the end of the procession.

Matsumura Keibun was a leading member of the Kyoto-based Shijō school of painting (Shijō-ha 四条派), named after Kyoto’s Fourth Avenue, or Shijō, where many of the school’s artists lived and worked.