…; purchased from the dealer C.P.J. van der Peet Japanese Prints, Amsterdam, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1986;¹¹Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 20, cat. no. 23 by whom donated to the museum, 1991

Object number: RP-P-1991-581

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

It is difficult to establish precisely what the idea behind the composition of this series was. As with so many surimono series of the early 19th century, women play a major role in the designs. The series seems to have been instigated by the circle of poets around Teikinsha, who also collaborated with Sori, Hokuba and others on the album Kyoka on the Gruel Spoon, Kyoka kayuzue, of 1804.²²Suga, Chikuho, Kyoka shomoku shusei. Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1936), p. 46. The poet also appears on a Hokusai surimono for 1809.³³Schmidt, Steffi and Setsuko Kuwabara, Surimono: Kostbare Japanische Farbholzschnitte aus dem Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst, Berlin. Berlin: D. Reimer, 1990, p. 45.

For other designs from this series (of nine designs?), see:

Garyo ume⁴⁴Fujisawa Morihiko korekushon surimono o chuushin to shite (The Fujisawa Morihiko Collection: with a Stress on Surimono) Tokyo: Ota Memorial Museum of Art, 1998, p. 108.

A shamisen teacher⁵⁵Forrer, Matthi, Surimono/egoyomi. Dusseldorf: Ukiyo-e Galerie Herbert Egenolf, 1978, p. 27.; Fujisawa Morihiko korekushon surimono o chuushin to shite (The Fujisawa Morihiko Collection: with a Stress on Surimono) Tokyo: Ota Memorial Museum of Art, 1998, p. 123.

Two courtesans, one in bed, the other by a screen⁶⁶Mirviss, Joan B. and John T. Carpenter, The Frank Lloyd Wright Collection of Surimono. New York: Weatherhill; Phoenix, Ariz.: Phoenix Art Museum, 1995, p. 140.

A woman drying a large sakebowl with a towel held by another woman⁷⁷Narazaki, Muneshige (ed.), Hizo //Ukiyoe = ukiyoe// taikan, vol. 8. Tokyo: Kodansha, 1989, p. 45.

A woman seated by a brazier showing a book to a standing courtesan⁸⁸Narazaki, Muneshige (ed.), Hizo //Ukiyoe = ukiyoe// taikan, vol. 8. Tokyo: Kodansha, 1989, p. 45.

• all with Teikinsha as the poet in the far left position.

Two women by a large cloth bag. One of them sits on the floor, holding a wooden plaque inscribed with the word 'Spring', Haru.

Spring, Haru, from the series Nine Plays for Spring Amusement, Harukyogen kyu no maki.

The inscription on the wooden plaque is taken here as indicating the title of the print. The cloth wrapped around the large package is decorated with a large stylised horse in reserve, shaped as a personal seal often used by Hokuba, 'horse' being ba in Japanese.

The print has the dating 'New Year of the Boar', I no hatsu haru, i.e, 1803. The four holes near the left edge indicate that this print was bound together by an earlier collector.

Two poems by Jakusosha Hayanori and Teikinsha [Fude no Ayahito, a judge of the Honchoren, died in his fifties in 1813].⁹⁹Kano, Kaian (ed.), Kyoka jinmei jisho (Dictionary of Names of Kyoka Poets). Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1928), p. 8.

Issued by the Honchoren(?)
Signature reading: Hokuba ga
Block-cutter: Kenko Tora

M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 123

M. Forrer, 2013, 'Teisai Hokuba, Two Women, Japan, 1803', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200467471