Two Women With a Koto

…; purchased from the dealer Kunsthandel Huys den Esch, Dodewaard, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1986;¹¹Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 24, cat. no. 37 by whom donated to the museum, 1991

ObjectNumber: RP-P-1991-584

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

This series, illustrating 'features of strength' as vows to the Bodhisattvas, actually parodies scenes from various well-known kabuki plays.

For others of the series, see:

Two ladies by the Naniwa tune, a plum tree, one seated on a bench -²²Narazaki, Muneshige (ed.), Hizo //Ukiyoe = ukiyoe// taikan, vol. 8. Tokyo: Kodansha, 1989, p. 73, and pl. 216.;
Two ladies and a small boy as the warrior Minamoto no Tametomo trying to draw a bow -³³Meissner, Kurt, Japanese Woodblock Prints in Miniature. The Genre of Surimono. London: Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., p. 22.,⁴⁴Narazaki, Muneshige (ed.), Hizo //Ukiyoe = ukiyoe// taikan, vol. 8. Tokyo: Kodansha, 1989, p. 73, and pl. 213.;
Two ladies trying to dislodge a shuttlecock from a plum tree, alluding to the play Ebira no ume -⁵⁵Narazaki, Muneshige (ed.), Hizo //Ukiyoe = ukiyoe// taikan, vol. 8. Tokyo: Kodansha, 1989, p. 73, and pl. 214.;
A woman pulling the scarf of another lady holding a broom, alluding to the play Kagekiyo -⁶⁶Narazaki, Muneshige (ed.), Hizo //Ukiyoe = ukiyoe// taikan, vol. 8. Tokyo: Kodansha, 1989, p. 73, and pl. 215..

The print in Ota⁷⁷Fujisawa Morihiko korekushon surimono o chuushin to shite (The Fujisawa Morihiko Collection: with a Stress on Surimono) Tokyo: Ota Memorial Museum of Art, 1998, p. 125. is mistakenly identified as one of the series.

Two women in a room. One of them, seated by the alcove, tokonoma, is apparently attempting to tune a zither, koto, a small box of koto bridges before her. She is being interrupted by the standing lady who takes away the instrument.

Koto, from the series The Five Great Strengths, Godairiki.

The scene parodies the story of the Soga brothers, specifically the accidental fight between Soga no Goro Tokimune and Asahina Saburo, in which the former pulled the armour off Asahina who, although a retainer of their enemy, had defected to their side. This scene is known as 'Pulling the Armour', Kusazuribiki, in kabuki performances based on this story of revenge. For another print depicting the same scene, see RP-P-1995-283.

One poem by Sanbanso Hajimaru.

Issued by an unidentified poetry club
Signature reading: Gakyojin Hokusai ga

M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 105

M. Forrer, 2013, 'Katsushika Hokusai, Two Women With a Koto, Japan, c. 1800 - c. 1805', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.422444