…; purchased from the dealer Kunsthandel Huys den Esch, Dodewaard, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1987;¹¹Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 33, cat. no. 58 by whom donated to the museum, 1991

Object number: RP-P-1991-648

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

A man wearing blueish formal court-trousers, hakama, leaning on a sword.

The man is the kabuki actor Ichikawa Danjuro VII in the role of a lord. Ichikawa Danjuro VII (1791-1859) acted under this name from XI/1800 to III/1832, when he adopted the name Ichikawa Ebizo V.

Three poems by Bunritsuen Bikkokoto, Bunsaisha Fudemaru and Shofudai [Teitei, also Kunmatei and Junnando, a judge of the Kankogawa and the elder brother of Bunbunsha Kanikomaru].²²Kano, Kaian (ed.), Kyoka jinmei jisho (Dictionary of Names of Kyoka Poets). Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1928), p. 144.

The poems are rather conventional, speaking respectively of the effects of ‘the Spring breeze on the mist’, the appearance of ‘the moon seen through the New Year decorations which move in the wind’ and ‘the dawn of Spring when the mist on Mount Chichibu dissolves’.

Issued by followers of the poet Shofudai Teitei
Signature reading: Gototei Kunisada ga, with Toshidama rings

M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 555

M. Forrer, 2013, 'Utagawa (I) Kunisada, Standing Lord in Blue Over-Kimono, Japan, c. 1825 - c. 1830', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200485491