Man with Umbrella by a Water Barrel

Katsushika Hokutai (mentioned on object), c. 1800 - c. 1805

Een acteur in de rol van Sukeroku staat met een geisha in opleiding (shinzô) voor een groot houten vat met bluswater. Op het vat, in wit, het Japanse teken voor 'water' (mizu), er bovenop kleinere blusemmers, en op de planken de straatnaam 'Edomachi'; de hoofdstraat van de Yoshiwara. Met één gedicht.

  • Artwork typeprint, surimono
  • Object numberRP-P-1995-280
  • Dimensionsheight 139 mm x width 183 mm
  • Physical characteristicsnishikie, with metallic pigments and blindprinting (on the lower part of the woman's kimono)

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Identification

  • Title(s)

    Man with Umbrella by a Water Barrel

  • Series title(s)

    • Een serie van zeven prenten
    • Shichiban no uchi (series title on object)

  • Object type

  • Object number

    RP-P-1995-280

  • Description

    Een acteur in de rol van Sukeroku staat met een geisha in opleiding (shinzô) voor een groot houten vat met bluswater. Op het vat, in wit, het Japanse teken voor 'water' (mizu), er bovenop kleinere blusemmers, en op de planken de straatnaam 'Edomachi'; de hoofdstraat van de Yoshiwara. Met één gedicht.

  • Part of catalogue

  • Catalogue reference

    • Forrer 133
    • Goslings 44

Creation

  • Creation

    • printmaker: Katsushika Hokutai (mentioned on object), Japan
    • poet: Sansuisha Satochika (mentioned on object), Japan

  • Dating

    c. 1800 - c. 1805

  • Search further with

Material and technique

  • Physical description

    nishikie, with metallic pigments and blindprinting (on the lower part of the woman's kimono)

  • Dimensions

    height 139 mm x width 183 mm

Explanatory note

  • Een surimono is een luxe uitgevoerde prent waarop beeld met één of meerdere gedichten gecombineerd is. Bij het drukken van een surimono werd vaak gebruik gemaakt van dikker papier, blinddruk en metaal pigmenten, zoals koper- en zilverpoeder. De prenten werden vaak in opdracht van dichters gemaakt en als exclusief geschenk aan vrienden en relaties gegeven.

This work is about

  • Subject

Acquisition and rights

  • Credit line

    Gift of J.H.W. Goslings, Epse

  • Acquisition

    gift 1995

  • Copyright

    Public domain

  • Provenance

    …; purchased from the dealer Hotei Japanese Prints, Leiden, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1992; {Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 27, cat. no. 44} by whom donated to the museum, 1995

Documentation

Persistent URL

Questions?

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Katsushika Hokutai

Man with Umbrella by a Water Barrel

Japan, Japan, c. 1800 - c. 1805

Inscriptions

  • lower left, in red ink, oblong seal of the printer Keiroku

Provenance

…; purchased from the dealer Hotei Japanese Prints, Leiden, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1992; 1Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 27, cat. no. 44 by whom donated to the museum, 1995

Object number: RP-P-1995-280

Credit line: Gift of J.H.W. Goslings, Epse

Context

The series-title indicates that this is one of a series of seven, but no other designs have been identified.

The artist

Biography

Katsushika Hokutai was a follower of Katsushika Hokusai, and used the names Katsushika, Eisai, Shinshinshi and Raito.

Entry

A man with a petulant expression, a towel around his head and holding an umbrella, stands by a large water barrel with a pile of smaller buckets on a triangular shelf next to it. Behind him a courtesan's apprentice, shinzo.

The man is the popular hero Sukeroku, a character in a kabuki play popularised by the Ichikawa family of actors, who pretends to be infatuated with the courtesan Agemaki while avenging the murder of his father. The text on one of the sides of the shelf reads 'Edo Street, First Block', Edocho it[chome], a street in the Yoshiwara pleasure quarter.

The Popular Hero Sukeroku, Sukeroku, from A Series of Seven Prints, Shichiban no uchi.

One poem by Sansuisha Satochika.
The poem is not connected to the subject of the print, speaking of -

The peace and quiet of a trip in a covered boat with you, my flower, along the coast of Awa and Kazusa - Awa and Kazusa are the two provinces opposite Edo Bay.

Issued by an unidentified poetry club
Signature reading: Eisai Hokutai ga
Printer: Keiroku

Literature

M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 133

Citation

M. Forrer, 2013, 'Katsushika Hokutai, Man with Umbrella by a Water Barrel, Japan, c. 1800 - c. 1805', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200382550

(accessed 3 February 2026 00:18:36).

Footnotes

  • 1Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 27, cat. no. 44