Two Kites

Utagawa Kunisada (I) (mentioned on object), 1825

Een vlieger in de vorm van een havik en een vierkante vlieger met een zilveren cirkel. Op de voorgrond een soort diabolo. Vliegeren werd vooral gedaan met Nieuwjaar, net als andere spelletjes zou het de goden gunstig stemmen wat voor een voorspoedig jaar zou kunnen zorgen. Met twee gedichten, waarvan één van Shakuyakutei over vliegeren.

  • Artwork typeprint, surimono
  • Object numberRP-P-1991-643
  • Dimensionsheight 204 mm x width 184 mm
  • Physical characteristicsnishikie, with metallic pigments and blindprinting (on the toy)

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Utagawa Kunisada (I)

Two Kites

Japan, Japan, Japan, 1825

Provenance

…; purchased from the dealer C.P.J. van der Peet Japanese Prints, Amsterdam, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1987;1Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 29, cat. no. 49 by whom donated to the museum, 1991

Object number: RP-P-1991-643

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

The artist

Biography

Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865) was a pupil of Utagawa Toyokuni, who dominated the field of kabuki prints until his death. Kunisada's prints of beautiful women, bijinga, were also very successful. Only well after he had established himself as a designer of actor prints did he enter the world of surimono design, becoming the most prolific designer of surimono in the Utagawa tradition. He also used the art-names Ichiyusai, Gototei and Kochoro.

Entry

Two kites, one shaped as a falcon, the other a rectangular blue kite with a silver circle in the centre. In the foreground a diabolo-like toy with its bow.

The Fourth Right: Kites, Yonban migi – Tobimaru, from the series A Comparison of Cocks, Niwatori awase.

Kite flying was a popular New Year’s pastime.

Two poems by Kinjuen Futaki [later Buwaian Futaki, also Komokuen or Sankai Chinjin, a judge of the Sugawararen, d. 1843],2Kano, Kaian (ed.), Kyoka jinmei jisho (Dictionary of Names of Kyoka Poets). Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1928), p. 199. and Shakuyakutei [Nagane, 1767-1845, earlier Asagi no Uranari. As Sugawara no Nagane, he established his own poetry club, the Sugawararen, publishing from 1826].3Kano, Kaian (ed.), Kyoka jinmei jisho (Dictionary of Names of Kyoka Poets). Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1928), p. 160.

The poem by Shakuyakutei reads:
Against the deep blue stretch of the sky, the strings of the kites amuse themselves by writing.

Issued by the Sugawawaren(?)
Signature reading: on request, motome ni ojite Kunisada ga

Literature

M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 547

Citation

M. Forrer, 2013, 'Utagawa (I) Kunisada, Two Kites, Japan, 1825', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200485453

(accessed 10 December 2025 13:50:29).

Footnotes

  • 1Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 29, cat. no. 49
  • 2Kano, Kaian (ed.), Kyoka jinmei jisho (Dictionary of Names of Kyoka Poets). Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1928), p. 199.
  • 3Kano, Kaian (ed.), Kyoka jinmei jisho (Dictionary of Names of Kyoka Poets). Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1928), p. 160.