A Gold Coin

Kazan Watanabe (mentioned on object), 1822

Een groot gouden muntstuk (ôban) op een stuk brokaat gedecoreerd met pioenrozen. De ôban was het grootste van de vijf muntstukken geintroduceerd in 1601 door Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616). De ôban was ongeveer 150 x 90 mm groot. Met twee gedichten.

  • Artwork typeprint, surimono
  • Object numberRP-P-1991-644
  • Dimensionsheight 209 mm x width 179 mm
  • Physical characteristicsnishikie, with metallic pigments, tsuyazuri, mica and overprinting or surface polishing of the ground

Kazan Watanabe

A Gold Coin

Japan, Japan, Japan, 1822

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. 27, cat. no. 46 by whom donated to the museum, 1991

Object number: RP-P-1991-644

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

Context

Interestingly, Gurendo and Magao often appear together on surimono, see, e.g. RP-P-1958-275 (1821) and RP-P-1958-343 (1824). The latter, a design by Hokkei, shows The Monkey Bridge, Saruhashi, on the Koshukaido, which would almost lead one to believe that these two poets often travelled together, too.

For other surimono by Kazan, see:
Court lady listening to a nightingale in the garden (1828)2Ward, Sidney C., One Hundred Surimono in the Collection of Sidney C. Ward. Privately published, 1976, p. 63 (as Watanabe Kazan).
Minister Hong bows to a boy on an ox (1829)3Keyes, Roger S., Surimono: Privately Published Japanese Prints in the Spencer Museum of Art. Tokyo/New York: Kodansha International Ltd., 1984, p. 31 (as Yokoyama Kazan); Sotheby's London, 8/VI/2004, 467; BM 1906,1220,0.622.
A painting of Uzume or Otafuku on a fan floating on a stream4Mirviss, Joan B. and John T. Carpenter, The Frank Lloyd Wright Collection of Surimono. New York: Weatherhill; Phoenix, Ariz.: Phoenix Art Museum, 1995, p. 202 (as Watanabe Kazan); NME, Leiden, 1353-813; MMA JP2636.

The artist

Biography

Watanabe Kazan (1793-1841), primarily a painter who very occasionally also designed prints, was a pupil of Tani Buncho and of the Nanga painter Kaneko Kinryo. He also studied Western techniques. His identification as Yokoyama Kazan, a Shijo painter from Kyoto, seems unlikely. He is not to be confused with Utayama, either.

Entry

A large gold coin, oban, on a piece of brocade patterned with peonies.

The gold oban was the largest of the five coins introduced in 1601 by Tokugawa leyasu (1542-1616), three of which were gold (the other two being the koban and ichibu), and the other two were silver (chogin and mameita). It measured about 150 x 90 mm. Its value equalled ten ryo. They were normally hand-signed in ink by the Master of the Mint, as here.

Two poems by Gurendo Nakakubo [studied with Akera Kanko],5Kano, Kaian (ed.), Kyoka jinmei jisho (Dictionary of Names of Kyoka Poets). Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1928), p. 156. and Kyokado [Yomo no Utagaki Magao, 1753-1829, Shikatsube Magao, pupil of Yomo Akara. Used the name 'Yomo' from 1796, when he became a judge of the Yomogawa. Alternative name Kyokado].6Kano, Kaian (ed.), Kyoka jinmei jisho (Dictionary of Names of Kyoka Poets). Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1928), p. 214.

Magao's poem relates to his First Lucky Dream of the New Year, in which he sees ponies ready to depart for Michinoku in the north, where he intends to spend some time in the mountains - possibly also alluding to the zodiacal sign of the Horse. It was considered auspicious to dream of Mount Fuji, a falcon and eggplants on New Year's Eve, the so-called First Lucky Dream, hatsuyume.

Issued by the poets
Signature reading: Kazan

Literature

M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 472

Citation

M. Forrer, 2013, 'Kazan Watanabe, A Gold Coin, Japan, 1822', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200415958

(accessed 12 December 2025 09:07:16).

Footnotes

  • 1Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 27, cat. no. 46
  • 2Ward, Sidney C., One Hundred Surimono in the Collection of Sidney C. Ward. Privately published, 1976, p. 63 (as Watanabe Kazan).
  • 3Keyes, Roger S., Surimono: Privately Published Japanese Prints in the Spencer Museum of Art. Tokyo/New York: Kodansha International Ltd., 1984, p. 31 (as Yokoyama Kazan); Sotheby's London, 8/VI/2004, 467; BM 1906,1220,0.622.
  • 4Mirviss, Joan B. and John T. Carpenter, The Frank Lloyd Wright Collection of Surimono. New York: Weatherhill; Phoenix, Ariz.: Phoenix Art Museum, 1995, p. 202 (as Watanabe Kazan); NME, Leiden, 1353-813; MMA JP2636.
  • 5Kano, Kaian (ed.), Kyoka jinmei jisho (Dictionary of Names of Kyoka Poets). Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1928), p. 156.
  • 6Kano, Kaian (ed.), Kyoka jinmei jisho (Dictionary of Names of Kyoka Poets). Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1928), p. 214.