Also pronounced nenchū gyōji. Lit. "annual events." Nenjū gyōji originally meant the monthly celebrations and ritual observances of the imperial court, many of which were based on ancient Chinese traditions, Chinese court events, and agricultural and religious rites. The earliest known use of the term was in connection with the dedication in 855 of a panel screen for the palace on which the names of 200 court events were inscribed, 48 for the First Month alone. Sometime between 1157-79, retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa 後白河 (r.1155-58) revived a number of ancient ceremonies and commissioned Tokiwa Mitsunaga 常盤光長 and other artists of the court painting atelier *edokoro 絵所 to paint a set of more than 60 handscrolls to record the annual court events and seasonal observances. The set was stored at Rengeō'in 蓮華王院 (Sanjūsangendō 三十三間堂, Kyoto) and then in the Imperial Household, but was destroyed in the fire of 1661. There exist eight or nine copies, including a set of 16 scrolls by Sumiyoshi Jokei 住吉如慶 (1599-1670) in the Tanaka 田中 Collection, yet all these materials together amount to approximately only one-third of the original. From the 13th century, martial events had been introduced into the nenjū gyōji and thus later paintings show events taking place not only at court but also in warrior and even merchant houses.
Because there is no fixed text for nenjū gyōji paintings, a great variety of themes appear. In general, later illustrations of nenjū gyōji were most often limited to twelve events, one for each month. Thus, nenjū gyōji merged into the category of *tsukinami-e 月次絵, sometimes later called jūnikagetsu fūzokuga 十二ヶ月風俗画, that is, genre paintings of the twelve months. Typical subjects, for example, are: New Year's Day /First month; the nightingale contest /Second month; cockfighting /Third month; blossom viewing /Fourth month; Boys Day Festival /Fifth month; Parade of mikoshi 神輿 /Sixth month; Tanabata 七夕 Star Festival /Seventh month; moon viewing /Eighth month; Chrysanthemum Festival /Ninth month; maple viewing /Tenth month; Bonfire Festival /Eleventh month; children in snow/ Twelfth month. Beginning in the 17th century, nenjū gyōji became a popular painting theme with artists of the Tosa and Kano Schools, *Tosa-ha 土佐派 and *Kano-ha 狩野派, appearing most frequently on fans and albums, but also in handscrolls and sets of hanging scrolls.