Two Ladies Walk Past a Wall

Katsushika Hôtei Hokuga (mentioned on object), c. 1800 - c. 1805

Twee vrouwen lopen langs een stenen muur overgroeid met gras. Op de achtergrond de muur en het dak van een pakhuis. Op het houten bord naast de vrouwen staat 'Ryôdaishi'; een tempelmarkt die twee keer per maand in Ueno, Edo, gehouden werd. Het titelcartouche heeft de vorm van een hamer, een van de attributen van de Geluksgod Daikoku. Met twee gedichten.

  • Artwork typeprint, surimono
  • Object numberRP-P-1999-233
  • Dimensionsheight 135 mm x width 182 mm
  • Physical characteristicsnishikie, with metallic pigments and blindprinting

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Katsushika Hôtei Hokuga (mentioned on object), c. 1800 - c. 1805

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Katsushika Hôtei Hokuga

Two Ladies Walk Past a Wall

Japan, c. 1800 - c. 1805

Provenance

…; purchased from the dealer C.P.J. van der Peet Japanese Prints, Amsterdam, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1996;1Coll. cat. Goslings 2004, p. 9, cat. no. 321 by whom donated to the museum, 1999

Object number: RP-P-1999-233

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

Context

For more on the Seven Gods of Good Fortune or Luck, the Shichifukujin, a popular group of household deities, see RP-P-1962-331.

The artist

Biography

Katsushika Hotei Hokuga (d. 1856) was a follower of Katsushika Hokusai, who also used the names Hotei, Mantei and Manjiro. There is an unconfirmed - or at least insufficiently developed - theory that he is identical to Hotei Gosei.

Entry

Two ladies walk past a stone wall overgrown with grass, the walls and roof of a stone storehouse in the distance. A wooden sign on a nearby pole reads 'Ryodaishi'.

The Ryodaishi Fair, Daishi, from A Series of Seven Gods of Good Fortune, Shichifukujin no uchi.

The print-title is inscribed within a cartouche shaped as a mallet, the traditional attribute of Daikoku, the God of Fortune, further identifying the subject of the print. Daishi, the title of the print, is an abbreviation of Ryodaishi, a fair held at the Jigando Temple at Ueno on the 3rd and 18th days of each month. The connection to Daikoku is obvious — he is the God of Fortune.

Two poems by Sakanoue Utawaku and Senkintei Joran [also Kinsha or Kinshatei, a judge of the Senshugawa].2Kano, Kaian (ed.), Kyoka jinmei jisho (Dictionary of Names of Kyoka Poets). Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1928), p. 92.

The print-title in this series by Hokuga is inscribed here within a cartouche shaped as the Hammer of Chaos, Konton no tsuchi, the emblem of Daikoku.

Issued by an unidentified poetry club
Signature reading: Hokuga ga

Literature

M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 136

Citation

M. Forrer, 2013, 'Katsushika Hôtei Hokuga, Two Ladies Walk Past a Wall, Japan, c. 1800 - c. 1805', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200413483

(accessed 29 November 2025 09:39:10).

Footnotes

  • 1Coll. cat. Goslings 2004, p. 9, cat. no. 321
  • 2Kano, Kaian (ed.), Kyoka jinmei jisho (Dictionary of Names of Kyoka Poets). Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1928), p. 92.