1930s Japan Izumo Taisha Yatsuashimon Gate Folk Dancers Ebisu Stamp Postcard

Title
1930s Japan Izumo Taisha Yatsuashimon Gate Folk Dancers Ebisu Stamp Postcard

Front Description
A monochrome collotype postcard printed in sepia and brown tones on white card stock, horizontal format, combining a photographic studio portrait with a scenic vignette, letterpress verse in red ink, and a purple souvenir commemorative stamp impression. Note: the image as scanned appears rotated; the description below is given as the card is intended to be viewed.

The right portion of the card carries a sepia studio photograph showing two young women in folk costume posed as dancers against a painted backdrop of soft landscape and sky.

One figure kneels or crouches low, her body turned to the side, one hand reaching down toward a large round woven bamboo winnowing tray resting on the ground before her. She wears a pale kimono boldly patterned with large flowing dark characters and script motifs, gathered with a dark sash, over pale under-garments.

The second figure sits or reclines beside her in a similar pose, likewise reaching toward a second woven tray. Her kimono is darker in tone, patterned with the same bold flowing script and floral motifs, with a broad sash at the waist. Both women wear distinctive white cloth headdresses printed with characters and edged with a spotted or beaded border, and both look directly toward the camera with composed expressions.

At the left, within an oval vignette, is a scenic photographic view of the Izumo Taisha shrine precinct: a substantial timber gateway of unpainted wood with heavy posts, lintels and a tiled or shingled roof, its lattice panels and carved detailing visible, set within a stone-walled enclosure with trees overhanging at the top and further shrine buildings glimpsed beyond.

Printed beside the vignette, right-to-left in yellow-orange type, is the caption: （出雲大社八足門） (Izumo Taisha Yatsuashimon — “The Eight-Legged Gate, Izumo Grand Shrine”).

Overprinted across the upper left of the card in bright purple ink is a large circular souvenir commemorative stamp impression: a standing figure of Ebisu, the smiling deity of fishermen and good fortune, holding a fishing rod and a large sea bream, with bold vertical characters reading 出雲大社 and 參拜 (Izumo Taisha sanpai — “Izumo Grand Shrine worship visit”).

Above and across the vignette, brush-written in bold red calligraphy in two vertical columns, is a folk verse in the local idiom.

The card shows light overall toning, a faint vertical crease at the upper centre, and light wear to the corners and edges.

Back Description
Divided-back Japanese postcard reverse, all printing in bright pink-magenta ink on white stock, horizontal orientation.

Top centre, in large spaced capitals: CARTE POSTALE

Upper right, a stamp box outlined in a wavy rule, containing in three lines: PLACE / POSTAGE / HERE. Immediately to its left, within an oval device containing the monogram K, the publisher’s imprint printed vertically: YAMADASHI KAIGAKENKYUKAI.

Left of the vertical dividing rule, in two lines: “PRINTED BY KAIGAKENKYUKAI” and “THIS SPACE MAY BE USED FOR MESSAGE.”

Right of the dividing rule, in two lines: “ONLY THE ADDRESS” and “MAY BE WRITTEN HERE.”

A vertical rule runs from beneath the heading down the full height of the card, separating the message area from the address panel.

Right-hand address panel: four ruled horizontal address lines.

Right edge, printed vertically: 郵便はかき (Yūbin hagaki — “Post Card”). Note: the final character appears as か without dakuten, an older orthographic form of はがき.

Left edge, printed vertically: 郵便はかき (Yūbin hagaki).

Show-through of the purple Ebisu souvenir stamp impression from the front is visible across the upper right of the card as scattered purple ink marks.

No message, address, stamp, postmark or handwritten text is present — the card is unused and postally unwritten. The paper shows light toning and minor wear to the corners and edges.

Estimated Era
Circa 1930s (early to mid Shōwa).

The dating rests on several converging lines of evidence. The scenic vignette shows the Yatsuashimon, the “Eight-Legged Gate” of Izumo Taisha, the innermost gate before the main sanctuary of the Grand Shrine of Izumo in Shimane Prefecture, one of Japan’s oldest and most venerated Shinto shrines. The purple commemorative stamp impression is a souvenir sanpai mark applied at the shrine; such rubber-stamp impressions became widespread from the 1920s and 1930s onward.

The publisher imprint of Kaiga Kenkyūkai of Yamada-shi, with instructions printed in English for the international market, and the divided-back format with ruled address lines, place the card in the interwar period. The archaic kana orthography in the 郵便はかき heading persists, but the divided back with English instructions points to the Shōwa rather than Taishō era. This card is a companion issue to others in the same series, differing in the scenic vignette and folk verse.

Further supporting evidence includes the costume and studio staging of the two dancers, posed with winnowing trays as folk performers — characteristic of regional souvenir cards promoting local song and dance traditions alongside scenic views — and the fine-screen collotype printing with red and yellow letterpress overprinting typical of Japanese regional tourist cards of the 1930s.

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