Sonsai Kôichi

Preparing a Nightingale's Food

Japan, Japan, c. 1820 - c. 1825

Provenance

…; purchased from the dealer Nihon Token, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1983;1Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 55, cat. no. 121 by whom donated to the museum, 1991

ObjectNumber: RP-P-1991-543

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

The artist

Biography

Sonsai Koichi, also known as the poet Kinpodo Nagao, was a member of the circle around Shuchodo Monoyana,2Kano, Kaian (ed.), Kyoka jinmei jisho (Dictionary of Names of Kyoka Poets). Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1928), p. 156. (and cf. RP-P-1958-594). However, he also used the name 'Kinpodo' as a designer, see, for example, the Colophon of the 1836 Kyoka Collection of Famous Numbers in Japan and China, Kyoka Wakan meisusho3Suga, Chikuho, Kyoka shomoku shusei. Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977, p. 90. Nagata, reading his name as Koitsu (Nagata 1994, 270f.), lists him as a pupil of Hokusai with a question mark, referring to a study by Oda Kazuma where Koichi is identified with the book Teach Yourself Stone and Sand Landscapes, Bonga hitori keiko, of 1828. However, he does add that he is not associated with Hokusai in Iijima Kyoshin's Katsushika Hokusaiden of 1893. Yoshida Teruji in his Ukiyoe jiten (1971) has Koichi Eisho as a name used by Kikugawa Eisho, a pupil of Kikugawa Eizan. The Ukiyoe ruiko does not list an artist named Koichi.

Entry

A young page-boy sitting in an open room looking onto a garden, prepares food for a nightingale, uguisu. He has opened the cage and the bird has escaped and flown onto a branch of blossoming plum.

In imitation of classical paintings, gold specks have been applied to part of the design after it was printed. This sheet could be from a luxury kyoka album and not a single-sheet surimono.

One poem by 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].4Kano, Kaian (ed.), Kyoka jinmei jisho (Dictionary of Names of Kyoka Poets). Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1928), p. 214.

The reference to the young Prince Genji in the introduction to the poem probably inspired the classical setting of the scene. The poem reads:

I am delighted to open my ears and hear the song of the warbler when I give him his evening meal — this really is a treasure for the young Spring.

Issued by the poet
Signature reading: Sonsai hitsu, with written seal, kakihan

Literature

M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 178

Citation

M. Forrer, 2013, 'Sonsai Kôichi, Preparing a Nightingale's Food, Japan, c. 1820 - c. 1825', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.422480

(accessed 19 June 2025 22:27:10).

Footnotes

  • 1Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 55, cat. no. 121
  • 2Kano, Kaian (ed.), Kyoka jinmei jisho (Dictionary of Names of Kyoka Poets). Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1928), p. 156.
  • 3Suga, Chikuho, Kyoka shomoku shusei. Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977, p. 90.
  • 4Kano, Kaian (ed.), Kyoka jinmei jisho (Dictionary of Names of Kyoka Poets). Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1928), p. 214.