Kubo SHUNMAN (1757-1820)
Click here to view image full size. One of a series of surimono with title: Guncho gafu, “ Pictorial Record of a Swarm of Butterflies.” (In fact butterflies and moths.) Shunman is recognised as possibly the greatest designer of surimono and the prints from this set are amongst the most beautifully printed in this field. […]
Utagawa TOYOKUNI I (1769-1825)
Click here to view image full size. A surimono showing the actor Ichikawa Danjuro II as Soga no Goro Tokimune holding the giant arrow prior to sharpening it on the large wetstone from the play Yanone Goro. From a series of surimono that paid tribute to the various generations of the Danjuro family. There are […]
Utagawa KUNIYOSHI (1797-1861)
Click here to view image full size. Shinba ren Uogashi ren Ichikawa Sansho e kore o okuru. Of the utmost rarity: A large surimono commissioned by the Shinba and Uogashi poetry clubs of Nihonbashi to commemorate the kabuki actor Ichikawa Sansho. Sansho was one of the haigo (poetry name’s) of Ichikawa Danjuro VIII (1823-54). This […]
Totoya HOKKEI (1780-1850)
Click here to view image full size. A still life surimono showing a right-eye flounder or flatfish, Karei, and a red bream, kaneme-tai. And small unidentified vegetables. Provenance: A slip from a catalogue on the back indicates that it comes from a Paris sale, probably early 20th century describing it as Limande et dorade. Hokkei […]
Utagawa KUNISADA (1786-1864)
Click here to view image full size. A long surimono showing a fan with an image of Ichikawa Danjuro VII as Soga no Goro in the play Yanone, “The Arrow Head.” To the left a fan shape with a poem by Sansho VII (Ichikawa Danjuro VII) and irises. Extremely rare. This impression sold by me […]
Totoya HOKKEI (1780-1850)
Click here to view image full size. A surimono showing the Japanese Buddhist goddess Benten, as always with her lute, and a monkey and rat holding a scroll showing the short months (2,4,7,9,12) for the Rat year, 1828. Benten (Hindu: Saraswati) originates from India via China. She is also one of the Seven Gods of […]
Utagawa KUNISADA (1786-1865)
Click here to view image full size. A complete setsugekka koban surimono-style set of triptychs: Snow, Moon, Flowers. Each triptych shows actors in the snow (from left: Matsumoto Koshiro V; Iwai Kumesaburo II; Ichikawa Danjuro VII); in moonlight (Iwai Shijaku I; Bando Mitsugoro III; Iwai Hanshiro V); and admiring the spring blossoms ( Onoe Kikugoro […]
Yanagawa SHIGENOBU II (active c 1824-1860)
Click here to view image full size. A surimono: Sono shichi – Nushi aru hana, “The Flower with an Owner.” Round 7 from a series Hana-awase, “A Flower Competition.” Usually a poetry competition to produce the best poems using different flowers, although in this instance the flowers are actually familiar terms incorporating the word “flower.” […]
Yashima GAKUTEI (1786-1868)
Click here to view image full size. A surimono showing plum blossom and fugu (blowfish or puffer, Fugu pardalis). These fish are infamous for being poisonous, mainly from their liver and are expensive delicacies in the winter. Extremely rare: Two other genuine impressions are in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, acc. no. 21.9297 and […]
MADOYA (Active c. 1830s)
Click here to view image full size. A surimono by an Osaka artist from a series with title Hasoku shunsho juhachi-ban no uchi,”Eighteen Pieces Praising Spring Near the Water.” Sub-title: Tenpozan (the name of the new port in Osaka Bay). Shows a girl in a boat beside the prow of a larger vessel. The Osaka […]
Totoya HOKKEI (1780-1850)
Click here to view image full size. Hokkei, a pupil of Hokusai, is best known for his fine surimono. This rather enigmatic example shows an ox being led by a farmer and his son. There appears to be a festival element in the headgear. Presumably issued for the Ox year (1829). The poetry club logo, […]
Totoya HOKKEI (1780-1850) (Attrib. to.)
Click here to view image full size. A surimono showing a new year’s throng of musicians, a monkey trainer, a samurai and children with a large kite. Possibly one sheet of a diptych or triptych. A beautiful example of the art of the surimono. Rare. Superb impression. Fine colour with extensive silver, gold and […]
Utagawa TOYOHIRO (1773-1829)
Click here to view image full size. A surimono showing a mechanical doll with movable eyes and mouth. It holds two puppets of Chinese boys, karako, playing cymbols. These automata, karakuri ningyo, were popular in Edo-period Japan and those made by Takeda Omi were the most famous. The doll stands on a small table with […]
Yashima GAKUTEI (1786-1868)
Click here to view image full size. A surimono showing two dancers performing the Sparrow dance, Suzume odori. From a set of six prints forming a hexaptych (this being the top left sheet) for the Katsushika Poetry Club, Katsushika rokubantsuzuki, c 1827-8. The vertical gold bands suggest a birdcage.Illustrated in Surimono, in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, […]
Katsushika HOKUSAI (1760-1849)
Click here to view image full size. A surimono, Watakuri uma, from a series Uma tsukushi, “Horse Series.” The set of at least thirty surimono was issued by the Yomo-gawa Poetry Club for the Horse Year, 1822. The title alludes to the appearance of the watakuri, “cotton gin” usually seen atop a wooden sawhorse-like stand. […]
Utagawa KUNISADA (1786 – 1865)
Click here to view image full size. The actor Ichikawa Danjuro VII as the medicine peddler in the play Uiro-uri and Ichikawa Danjuro IV in the votive panel above as Kagekiyo in the play of the same name. Both these plays are included in the Kabuki Juhachiban ” Eighteen Favourite Plays” chosen to illustrate the […]
Totoya HOKKEI (1780-1850)
Click here to view image full size. A surimono showing the god Sarutahiko with a rooster and hen. The second sheet from a 5-sheet set: Haru no iwato, “The Boulder of Spring” referring to the rock placed by the sun goddess over the entrance to the cave she hid in thereby depriving the world of […]
Katsushika HOKUSAI (1760-1849)
Click here to view image full size. A koban surimono from a kyoka set ( of one hundred ? ) published c. 1805. Shows a kyoka poet with poem by Mikumi Himemari. Seemingly the only large group illustrated is in the Katsushika Hokusai Exhibition from The Peter Morse Collection, Ukiyo-e Ota Memorial Museum of Art, […]
Yashima GAKUTEI (1786-1868)
Click here to view image full size. A surimono from a fine set of eight prints: Ichiyoren bunbo shiyu, “Four Companions of the Writing Studio for the Ichiyo Circle.” Issued c 1827 for the Ichiyoren poetry club. The set alternates Chinese and Japanese subjects with the literati tradition of brush, ink, inkstone and paper. In […]
Anonymous (1821)
Click here to view image full size. A still life from a set of six prints for the Iwagaki Club: Iwagaki-ren rokuhira no uchi. Shows a tobacco pouch, telescope and snake netsuke (for snake year 1821). There appear to be at least three states of this lovely surimono. Fine impression and colour with gold and […]
Totoya HOKKEI (1780-1850)
Click here to view image full size. Originally a fishmonger (hence the go Totoya). Studied painting under Kano Yosen’in and then became one of Hokusai’s best pupils. Produced excellent surimono such as here showing a sumptuously attired courtesan representing Kyoto from a set of three surimono Sangoku-shi no toen ketsugi, a History of the Three […]
Yashima GAKUTEI (1786 [?]-1868)
Click here to view image full size. An uncut vertical surimono diptych showing two young women in court finery from the Heian period (794-1185). This being considered the finest and most cultured period in Japanese history. One stands on a balcony, the other on steps leading to the balcony overlooking a flowering cherry tree. Extremely […]
Ryuryukyo SHINSAI (c1764-1823)
Click here to view image full size. A surimono still life showing two handscrolls, a small screen, a branch of coral, a branch of plum blossom and two seals. (Coral and plum blossom are associated with the new year.) One of the seals has a tiger on top, possibly indicating this surimono was issued for […]
Utagawa KUNISADA (1786-1865)
Click here to view image full size. A surimono showing the actor Ichikawa Danjuro VII in the role of Soga no Goro holding a print of the shichifukujin in the takarabune. A parody of the Yanone no Goro story: Yanone means “arrowhead” and is one of the eighteen famous plays in the Danjuro canon, belonging […]
Hishikawa SORI (Active 1797-c.1813)
Click here to view image full size. A samurai helmet maker (kabuto) from a series of surimono Shokunin sanjurokuban, “Thirty-six Poets as Craftsmen.” Issued for the Asakusagawa Club in 1802. Hand-stamped series title top right. Sori was a pupil of Hokusai originally called Soji with Hokusai passing on the name to him. Shows a beauty […]
Yashima GAKUTEI (1786 ?-1868)
Click here to view image full size. Best known for his surimono although he produced fine paintings, some good landscapes and was also known as a poet. A surimono, one of a set of two on the martial arts of Japan and China, this obviously being Japan: Wakan butoku no uchi. Shows a helmet with […]
Yashima GAKUTEI (1786 ?-1868)
Click here to view image full size. Best known for his surimono although he produced fine paintings, some good landscapes and was also known as a poet. A surimono showing a young mother making a temari ball. This form of folk art arrived from China in the 7th c. The balls were given to children […]
Utagawa TOYOKUNI I (1769-1825)
Click here to view image full size. A large surimono which shows Danjuro VII in Shibaraku on a fan on the right. He did, in fact, perform Shibaraku in the 11th month kaomise performance at the Morita-za theatre in 1812 (which fits the style of Toyokuni’s signature). However, the rest of the design appears to […]
KINKO
Click here to view image full size. A surimono of what may be a Japanese bush warbler ( uguisu ), the harbinger of spring, perched on a weeping cherry branch.Three poems below. Fine impression and colour. Slight signs of mounting au verso, otherwise very good condition. Signed and sealed Kinko. Seal of engraver Shiho Sanshi […]
Kikugawa EIZAN (1787-1867)
Click here to view image full size. A surimono showing a game of rock-paper-scissors, although this might be a variant called Kitsune-ken, with fox-hunter-village chief. The game originates (as so much in Japan) from China and eventually made its way to the west. This was (and is) a dangerous game to play with ladies who […]
Totoya HOKKEI (1780-1850)
Click here to view image full size. A surimono showing two beauties by the pond at Tsunowazu Kumano Shrine in Yotsuya. The title is: Yotsuya Juniso, referring to the twelve shrines at Tsunowazu in Yotsuya. The poem on the large stone is by Shibanoya and refers to the peacefulness of the place with the willows […]
Utagawa KUNISADA (1785-1865)
Click here to view image full size. A surimono showing the actors Ichikawa Monnosuke III (right) and Ichikawa Danjuro VII walking in the emado of Asakusa Temple in Edo. This was a pavilion at the Shinto shrine used for displaying votive tablets. This seems to be part of a three or five sheet set showing […]
Kubo SHUMMAN (1757-1820)
Click here to view image full size. A surimono showing court figures dancing from a series: Shofudai Hisakataya Bunbunsha Tosa Nikki, “The Tosa Diary for the Shofudai, Hisakataya and Bunbunsha Poetry Groups.” Issued late 1810s. For another from this series see: Jewels Of Japanese Printmaking: Surimono Of The Bunka-Bunsei Era 1804-1830, Joan B. Mirviss, Ota […]
Utagawa KUNISADA (1785-1865)
Click here to view image full size. A surimono showing Ichikawa Danjuro VII and Bando Mitsugoro III as Soga no Goro and Asahina no Saburo in the armour-pulling (kusazuri-biki) scene from the play Tsukisenzu haru gohiki Soga. Issued 1827. The story relates how Soga no Goro was feasting at a banquet when he learns of […]
Katsushika HOKUSAI (1760-1849)
Click here to view image full size. A surimono, Umazakushi, showing a saddle and cotton-gin from Watakuri uma, “A Series of Horses.” Issued for the Yomogawa club, 1822. Shows a horse’s saddle, a cotton-gin, basket of cotton floss and a branch of plum. A smoking set in the foreground. This set followed on from the […]
Takahashi CHIHARU (1777-1859)
Sold Click here to view image full size. A surimono in Yamato-e style showing Otohime and Tawara Toda on the long bridge at Seta. There are different versions of this popular legend. One has it that Otohime, the Dragon Princess, had an enemy in the form of a giant centipede that lived and poisoned Lake […]
Ryuryukyo SHINSAI (Active c 1799-1823)
Click here to view image full size. A surimono showing a scroll with a painting of a Takarabune ship and an enameled Persian clock (with Arabic numerals). Norizome, “Maiden Voyage [of the New Year].” The Takarabune, “Treasure Ship” is associated with the new year and carries the Seven Lucky Gods (Shichifukujin) with their treasures. Shinsai […]
Yashima GAKUTEI (active 1815-1852)
Click here to view image full size. A surimono showing a Chinese lady threading a needle on a balcony. First issued in Osaka for the Drum Group, c 1824. This is the excessively rare first edition with the blue sky and clouds; verses by two Osaka poets, and the coloured thread is connected to the […]
Utagawa SADAKAGE (active c. 1818-1844)
Click here to view image full size. A surimono, Kinsei, “Metal” from Gobantsuzuki, “A Set of Five” surimono based on the five elements: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water. Shows a woman polishing a metal mirror. Published c. mid-1820s. The set was designed for a group led by the poet Shakuyakutei whose plum-blossom emblem is […]
Hotei GOSEI (Active c. 1804-1835)
Click here to view image full size. A surimono showing a still life of fish and utensils from a fine and rare set Toto meisho awase, “Famous Attractions of the Eastern Capital.” The series title in a cartouche in the shape of the character “go” representing the Go-gawa Club. Each surimono shows something related to […]