A Meeting of Three Poets

Kubota Shunman (mentioned on object), 1799

Drie Japanse dichters in parodie op de hofcultuur. De rechter man heeft een penseel in zijn hand; daarnaast een vrouw met waaier en gedicht; en links een man met een boek op zijn hoofd gebonden waardoor het op een door hovelingen gedragen hoofddeksel lijkt. De drie dichters zouden de auteurs van de toegevoegde drie gedichten kunnen zijn.

  • Artwork typeprint, surimono
  • Object numberRP-P-1999-245
  • Dimensionsheight 137 mm x width 184 mm
  • Physical characteristicsnishikie

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Kubota Shunman (mentioned on object), 1807

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Kubota Shunman (mentioned on object), 1799

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A Fisher-woman

attributed to Kubota Shunman, c. 1800 - c. 1805

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Vier vlinders

after print by Kubota Shunman (mentioned on object), c. 1880 - c. 1900

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Pioenrozen en irissen

after print by Kubota Shunman (mentioned on object), c. 1890 - c. 1900

Pioenrozen en irissen

A Lacquer Bowl

Kubota Shunman (mentioned on object), c. 1815 - c. 1820

A Lacquer Bowl

Lobster and Shells

Kubota Shunman (mentioned on object), c. 1800 - c. 1805

Lobster and Shells

Rotsen, golven en de opkomende maan

after print by Kubota Shunman (mentioned on object), c. 1890

Rotsen, golven en de opkomende maan

Kubota Shunman

A Meeting of Three Poets

Japan, Japan, 1799

Provenance

…; purchased from the dealer Bernard Haase, London, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1999;1Coll. cat. Goslings 2004, p. 13, cat. no. 331 by whom donated to the museum, 1999

Object number: RP-P-1999-245

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

The artist

Biography

Kubota Shunman (1757-1820), popularly called Kubo Shunman, was a pupil of Kitao Shigemasa who was also strongly influenced by Torii Kiyonaga and Katsukawa Shuncho. He created an attractive blend of the various ideals of feminine beauty prevalent in his time. He also used the art name Shosado. In addition to designing prints and making paintings, he was a poet and a writer and ran a studio that produced surimono. It was probably in this capacity that he introduced some of the innovations of the mid-Bunka period (1809-13), exploring the concept of large series of shikishiban surimono.

Entry

A meeting of three poets, an older man seated at right, a brush in his hand, a standing woman in the centre holding a fan and a poetry-slip, tanzaku. To the left a seated man with an upright book on top of his head attached with a ribbon under his chin as if it were a court-cap, eboshi. It is quite likely that the poets who contributed the poetry are portrayed on this print: the man at right certainly looks old enough to be Haginoya. This would imply that the man to the left is possibly a self-portrait of Shunman. The surface of the paper has been treated to suggest silk, (cf RP-P-1991-619).

Two poems by Haginoya-o [Oya no] Urasumi [1734-1810, a leader of the Honchoren],2Kano, Kaian (ed.), Kyoka jinmei jisho (Dictionary of Names of Kyoka Poets). Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1928), p. 26. and Bun? Tokigoromo, and one anonymous poem, possibly also by Bun? Tokigoromo or by the designer, Kubota Shunman [1757-1820, a pupil of Tsumuri no Hikaru and a member of the Hakurakugawa],3Ibid., p. 95. although Shunman generally signed his poems on prints.

The last poem has the introductory words: 'It is good that the New Year of the Goat has come', Hitsuji mato yoshi.

Issued by the poets
Signature reading: Shosado Shunman, with seal: Sho

Literature

M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 62

Citation

M. Forrer, 2013, 'Kubota Shunman, A Meeting of Three Poets, Japan, 1799', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200413471

(accessed 4 December 2025 10:47:10).

Footnotes

  • 1Coll. cat. Goslings 2004, p. 13, cat. no. 331
  • 2Kano, Kaian (ed.), Kyoka jinmei jisho (Dictionary of Names of Kyoka Poets). Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1928), p. 26.
  • 3Ibid., p. 95.