Woman Playing the Koto

Karyôsai Hokuga (mentioned on object), c. 1815 - c. 1820

Een zittende hofdame speelt op de koto (Japans snaarinstrument). Ze draagt een kimono die geassocieerd wordt met de Heian periode (794-1185). Op de grond naast haar een doosje voor de plectrums die tijdens het bespelen van de koto aan de vingers worden gedragen. Met drie gedichten.

  • Artwork typeprint, surimono
  • Object numberRP-P-1991-640
  • Dimensionsheight 206 mm x width 185 mm
  • Physical characteristicsnishikie, with metallic pigments and blindprinting

Karyôsai Hokuga

Woman Playing the Koto

Japan, Japan, Japan, c. 1815 - c. 1820

Provenance

…; purchased from the dealer Kunsthandel Huys den Esch, Dodewaard, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1986;1Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 23, cat. no. 32 by whom donated to the museum, 1991

Object number: RP-P-1991-640

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

The artist

Biography

Karyosai Hokuga first studied with Tomigawa Fusanobu using the name Ginsetsu; later he became a pupil of Katsushika Hokusai using the names Katsushika, and later, from 1824(?), the name Karyosai.

Entry

A court lady, dressed in the elaborate clothing associated with the Heian period (794-1185), playing the zither, koto, a curtain behind her. In the foreground a small box for keeping the plectrums worn on the fingers when playing the instrument.

Print from the series The Tale of Genji, Genji monogatari.

The Tale of Genji, Genji monogatari (early 11th century), is a novel written by the Heian-period (794-1185) court lady Murasaki Shikibu. The book comprises 54 chapters, identifiable by unique combinations of five vertical lines with horizontals connecting them, the so-called Genjimon (cf. RP-P-1958-480). This classic in world literature is also available in English translations by Arthur Waley (1935) and, more recently, by Edward Seidensticker (1976).

Hokuga designed at least two series based on The Tale of Genji; this print belongs to a series probably dating from the late 1810s, the other dating from the early 1820s (see RP-P-1958-573). No other designs from this series could be identified.

This series may be an official publication of the Iwagakiren, though this poetry club is not explicitly mentioned - as is the case in A Series of Six Leaves for the Iwagakiren, Iwagakiren Rokuhira no uchi, of 1821 (see Mirviss & Carpenter2Mirviss, Joan B. and John T. Carpenter, The Frank Lloyd Wright Collection of Surimono. New York: Weatherhill; Phoenix, Ariz.: Phoenix Art Museum, 1995, pp. 196-201. which includes a highly unsuccessful effort by Shushintei to produce one of the prints himself).

Three poems by Taiheian Miyosumi [also Honensha, from Sotsu in Mutsu Province],3Kano, Kaian (ed.), Kyoka jinmei jisho (Dictionary of Names of Kyoka Poets). Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1928), p. 221. Suzu - Sekitori and Iwane - Tsuraharu. All three poems are rather conventional, replete with 'wind in the pines' and 'strands of mist'.

Issued by an unidentified poetry club
Signature reading: Hokuga

Literature

M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 352

Citation

M. Forrer, 2013, 'Karyôsai Hokuga, Woman Playing the Koto, Japan, c. 1815 - c. 1820', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200473094

(accessed 18 December 2025 08:56:36).

Footnotes

  • 1Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 23, cat. no. 32
  • 2Mirviss, Joan B. and John T. Carpenter, The Frank Lloyd Wright Collection of Surimono. New York: Weatherhill; Phoenix, Ariz.: Phoenix Art Museum, 1995, pp. 196-201.
  • 3Kano, Kaian (ed.), Kyoka jinmei jisho (Dictionary of Names of Kyoka Poets). Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1928), p. 221.