Lucky Branch

Helen Hyde

Helen Hyde began her printmaking career as an etcher in 1896 before turning to color woodcut in 1900. She continued to sporadically use the intaglio media throughout her career, returning to it completely again in 1915 until her death in 1919.

"Lucky Branch" was done in 1915, the year of the Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco where she exhibited 41 prints and won a bronze medal and 45 of her works were sold, but this image was not included in the show.

Hyde returned to Japan for the source for this etching, her familiar Japanese child gazing up at a "Lucky Branch". For the festival of Toka Ebisu people buy branches of lucky bamboo grass, called Fuku-Zasa which have been blessed in a special ritual by a shrine maiden.

They then buy more lucky charms and talismans, which they attach to the bamboo branch. These charms come in all kinds of designs, in this case some koi, a smiling Eibisu doll's face, and some Omamori charms.