Two men Watching a Man Make a Painting of a Turtle

Utagawa Kuniyasu (mentioned on object), 1829

Twee oudere mannen kijken toe hoe een jongere man een schildering maakt van een langharige schildpad (minogame). Deze surimono laat duidelijk een schilderwedstrijd zien tussen Tôbôsaku (uiterst rechts), Miura no Ôsuke (met zwarte hofhoed) en Urashimatarô (voorgrond). Volgens de legende maakte Urashimatarô ooit een reis op een langharige schildpad, vandaar dat hij deze afbeeldt. Een minogame zou een staart van zeewier krijgen nadat hij meer dan 1000 jaar oud was, vandaar dat de langharige schildpad symbool staat voor een lang leven. Miura no Ôsuke heeft de cijfers van de korte maanden (1,3,5,7,10) voor het jaar 1829 afgebeeld. De cijfers voor de lange maanden staan omcirkeld in de tekst bovenaan de surimono. Deze prent was een nieuwjaars-surimono voor de Miuraya Hikohachi, een winkel in schrijfbenodigdheden in Edo (huidig Tokio), en was niet bestemd voor verkoop, zoals het zwarte cartouche linksonder vermeldt. Met één gedicht en tekst.

  • Artwork typeprint, surimono, egoyomi (kalenderblad)
  • Object numberRP-P-1991-654
  • Dimensionsheight 195 mm x width 178 mm
  • Physical characteristicsnishikie, with metallic pigments and blindprinting

Utagawa Kuniyasu

Two men Watching a Man Make a Painting of a Turtle

Japan, Japan, 1829

Provenance

…; purchased from the dealer Hotei Japanese Prints, Leiden, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1988;1Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 35, cat. no. 66 by whom donated to the museum, 1991

Object number: RP-P-1991-654

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


The artist

Biography

Utagawa Kuniyasu (1794-1832), a pupil of Utagawa Toyokuni, designed prints of actors, beautiful women and landscapes as well as surimono and book illustrations. He also used the art name Ipposai.


Entry

Two elder men watch a third, younger man, make a painting of a long-tailed turtle.

Print from a series of Annual Calendars, Reinen no tori.

This is clearly a representation of a painting contest between three long-lived men: Tobosaku is seated at right; Miura no Osuke, wearing a court-cap, is at left; and the young man in the foreground is Urashimataro. The latter was a fisherman who, after spending a short time in the palace of the Dragon King at the bottom of the sea, returned to earth to discover that several generations had passed. Since he made the journey on a long-tailed turtle, minogame - an emblem of longevity - this is, for various reasons, an appropriate subject for his painting. Turtles are believed to grow a tail of seaweed after reaching the age of 10,000 years.

This print is also a picture calendar, egoyomi, for 1829, the numerals for the short months, 1, 3, 5, 7 and 10, written on a sheet of paper in front of the elder man at left, the numerals for the long months indicated within circles in a long inscription at the top. In a cartouche at left a note indicating that it is ‘not permitted to buy or sell’ this print, fukyo baibai.

One poem by Mikawaya Hikohachi of Otenmacho nichome [in Edo], preceded by a long prose text.

The reference to an ‘Annual tradition’, Reinen no tori, suggests this could be one a series of calendar prints. This print was, appropriately, issued by a shop selling brushes, ink and ink-stones, owned by Mikawaya Hikohachi (also the poet on this print), on the second block of Otenmacho, Otenmacho nichome, in Edo. No other designs from this group have been identified. The shop was listed in the Edo Shopping Guide (Edo kaimono dokuannai) published in Osaka in 1824.

Issued by an unidentified poetry club, 1829
Signature reading: Ipposai Kuniyasu ga, with Toshidama ring


Literature

M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 529


Citation

M. Forrer, 2013, 'Utagawa Kuniyasu, Two men Watching a Man Make a Painting of a Turtle, Japan, 1829', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200485403

(accessed 30 November 2025 02:06:58).

Footnotes

  • 1Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 35, cat. no. 66