Gathering the Seven Herbs of Spring

Shûraku (mentioned on object), 1800

Een vrouw met haar dienstmeisje wandelen langs een riviertje om kruiden te plukken. Naast hen een jongetje met een pak op zijn rug. De zeven kruiden worden gebruikt voor de nieuwjaarsgruwel die gebruikelijk op de zevende dag van het nieuwe jaar gegeten wordt. Met twee gedichten.

  • Artwork typeprint, surimono
  • Object numberRP-P-1991-680
  • Dimensionsheight 134 mm x width 200 mm
  • Physical characteristicsnishikie, with blindprinting

Shûraku

Gathering the Seven Herbs of Spring

Japan, Japan, Japan, 1800

Provenance

…; purchased from the dealer Hotei Japanese Prints, Leiden, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1991;1Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 67, cat. no. 152 by whom donated to the museum, 1991

Object number: RP-P-1991-680

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

Context

For other designs by this amateur designer, see Mirviss (as Shunen).2Mirviss, Joan B. Surimono. New York: Joan B. Mirviss, Ltd. Japanese Fine Art, 1985, p. 21.

The artist

Biography

Shuraku was an occasional amateur designer.

Entry

A lady and her maidservant walking along the banks of a stream, the maidservant picking herbs. Behind them a young boy with a large box in a carrying cloth, furoshiki, decorated with toy monkeys. A willow tree at right.

The women are apparently gathering the Seven Herbs of Spring, Haru no nanakusa, seven herbs eaten in gruel on the 7th Day of the First Month. The stream is rendered in blindprinting only. For the toy monkeys decorating the boy's package, cf. AK-MAK-974 and AK-MAK-1580.

Two poems by Chisonsai Namanari and Furyuan Tokunari.3Kano, Kaian (ed.), Kyoka jinmei jisho (Dictionary of Names of Kyoka Poets). Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1928), p. 153.

The poem by Namanari is titled Wakanatsumu, 'Gathering herbs'.

Issued by the poets
Signature reading: Shuraku ga

Literature

M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 185

Citation

M. Forrer, 2013, 'Shûraku, Gathering the Seven Herbs of Spring, Japan, 1800', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200467497

(accessed 18 December 2025 15:09:33).

Footnotes

  • 1Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 67, cat. no. 152
  • 2Mirviss, Joan B. Surimono. New York: Joan B. Mirviss, Ltd. Japanese Fine Art, 1985, p. 21.
  • 3Kano, Kaian (ed.), Kyoka jinmei jisho (Dictionary of Names of Kyoka Poets). Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1928), p. 153.