Monkey Reaching for the Moon's Reflection

Ishikawa Utayama (mentioned on object), 1824

Een aapje hangt met een arm aan een tak van een pijnboom en probeert de weerspiegeling van de maan te grijpen. De voorstelling is afgebeeld alsof het een staand kamerscherm (tsuitate) betreft. Zo`n scherm werd meestal direct achter de deur van een huis geplaats, om kwade geesten buiten te houden, vanwege het geloof dat zij zich alleen in rechte lijnen konden bewegen. Met drie gedichten.

  • Artwork typeprint, surimono
  • Object numberRP-P-1991-657
  • Dimensionsheight 195 mm x width 175 mm
  • Physical characteristicsnishikie, with metallic pigments

Ishikawa Utayama

Monkey Reaching for the Moon's Reflection

Japan, Japan, Japan, Japan, 1824

Provenance

…; purchased from the dealer Hotei Japanese Prints, Leiden, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1989;1Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 28, cat. no. 47 by whom donated to the museum, 1991

Object number: RP-P-1991-657

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

The artist

Biography

Ishikawa Utayama designed a small oeuvre. It is difficult to ascertain if he is the same as the Ishikawa Utayama listed in the Ukiyoe ruiko as a designer from the Bunka period (1804-18) who worked in a style closely following that of Utamaro. Ukiyoe jiten lists the same designer both as Ishikawa Utayama (copying the information in Ukiyoe ruiko) and as Ishikawa Kazan, making him a designer following the style of Kikugawa Eizan.

Entry

A monkey holding on to the branch of a pine tree, trying to reach the moon's reflection in the water below.

The picture is framed as if it were a standing screen, tsuitate, of the type normally placed directly inside the entrance of houses to repel evil spirits, based on the belief that evil spirits can only move in straight lines.

Three poems by Shomontei Kitaru [also Kotei, a pupil of Hokutoan and a member of the Hokutoren; later established his own Koishikawaren].2Kano, Kaian (ed.), Kyoka jinmei jisho (Dictionary of Names of Kyoka Poets). Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1928), p. 61. , Seigetsutei Mitsumaru and Hamitei Metsumi.

Obviously, the poem by Kitaru inspired the design, speaking of 'putting out a standing screen', 'the monkey's arm' and the 'moon in the water'. The other two poems also refer to the moon reflected in the water.

Issued by the poets
Signature reading: Utayama

Literature

M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 480

Citation

M. Forrer, 2013, 'Ishikawa Utayama, Monkey Reaching for the Moon's Reflection, Japan, 1824', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200475214

(accessed 10 December 2025 15:15:14).

Footnotes

  • 1Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 28, cat. no. 47
  • 2Kano, Kaian (ed.), Kyoka jinmei jisho (Dictionary of Names of Kyoka Poets). Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1928), p. 61.