…; collection Adolphe Stoclet (1871-1949), Paris; his sale, London (Sotheby's), 8 June 2004, no. 445, to J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer;¹¹Coll. cat. Forrer 2013, p. 107, cat. no. 192 by whom donated to the museum, 2004

Object number: RP-P-2004-517

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

This print belongs to a somewhat unusual series in that it was not published all at once, but was issued one print per year. It appears to have been an initiative of the poet Sakuragawa Jihinari (1761-1837?). Calculating back, it seems he started the series in 1798 and continued issuing designs for more than 50 years. The first fifteen or so were possibly designed by Jihinari himself. He contracted Utagawa Toyohiro (1773-1829) to make the designs for the following group, to which this and the following print belong. After Toyohiro died at the end of 1829, having finished his design for the New Year of 1830, Jihinari made the designs for a number of years, until Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) took over. The annotations of Jihinari's age in the designs he created in
the 1830s have led us to adopt a different year for his death than is used in most reference works: 1837 instead of 1833 (see also RP-P-1999-250, attributed to Sakuragawa Jinko). For another design by Jihinari, see AK-MAK-1555. This is not the only serial publication of New Year's surimono of this type, see RP-P-1991-646 and Ota²²Fujisawa Morihiko korekushon surimono o chuushin to shite (The Fujisawa Morihiko Collection: with a Stress on Surimono) Tokyo: Ota Memorial Museum of Art, 1998, p. 238. for an example by the writer Shikitei Sanba (1776-1822).

For others of the series, see:
1: 1798 Jihinari - not identified
3: 1800(?) Jihinari³³Meissner, Kurt, Japanese Woodblock Prints in Miniature. The Genre of Surimono. London: Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., 1970, Kalenderdaten, p. 31.
9: 1806(?) Jihinari - Stanford Museum
15: 1812(?) Jihinari⁴⁴Fine Japanese Prints from the Collection of Sidney C. Ward /.../ November 5, 1985. New York: Christie’s, Manson & Woods International, 1985.
19: 1816 Toyohiro⁵⁵Hempel, Rose, Ukiyo-e. Die Kunst der heiteren vergänglichen Welt, Japan 17. - 19. Jahrhundert, Sammlung Scheiwe. Recklinghuisen: Bongers, 1972, p. 207.
22: 1819 Toyohiro⁶⁶Fine Japanese Prints from the Collection of Sidney C. Ward /.../ November 5, 1985. New York: Christie’s, Manson & Woods International, 1985.
23: 1820 Toyohiro⁷⁷Fine Japanese Prints from the Collection of Sidney C. Ward /.../ November 5, 1985. New York: Christie’s, Manson & Woods International, 1985.
27: 1824 Toyohiro⁸⁸Fine Japanese Prints from the Collection of Sidney C. Ward /.../ November 5, 1985. New York: Christie’s, Manson & Woods International, 1985; Masterpieces of Ukiyoe from the Pulverer Collection (Doitsu Puruberaa korekushon ukiyoe hanga meihin ten). Tokyo: Asahi Shinbunsha, 1990; Kruml, Richard: Surimono Prints, Catalogue 15. London, 1975, p. 10.
28: 1825 Toyohiro⁹⁹Fine Japanese Prints from the Collection of Sidney C. Ward /.../ November 5, 1985. New York: Christie’s, Manson & Woods International, 1985.
29: 1826 Toyohiro¹⁰¹⁰Hempel, Rose, Ukiyo-e. Die Kunst der heiteren vergänglichen Welt, Japan 17.?19. Jahrhundert, Sammlung Scheiwe. Recklinghuisen: Bongers, 1972, p. 208.
30: 1827 Toyohiro - Fogg¹¹¹¹Fine Japanese Prints from the Collection of Sidney C. Ward /.../ November 5, 1985. New York: Christie’s, Manson & Woods International, 1985; Bowie, Theodore, et al.,Art of the Surimono. Bloomington: Indiana University Art Museum, 1979, p. 30.
31: 1828 Toyohiro¹²¹²Fine Japanese Prints from the Collection of Sidney C. Ward /.../ November 5, 1985. New York: Christie’s, Manson & Woods International, 1985.
32: 1829 Toyohiro¹³¹³Fine Japanese Prints from the Collection of Sidney C. Ward /.../ November 5, 1985. New York: Christie’s, Manson & Woods International, 1985.; Austin
33: 1830 Toyohiro¹⁴¹⁴Ward, Sidney C., One Hundred Surimono in the Collection of Sidney C. Ward. Privately Published, 1976, p. 42.
35: 1832 Jihinari¹⁵¹⁵Fine Japanese Prints from the Collection of Sidney C. Ward /.../ November 5, 1985. New York: Christie’s, Manson & Woods International, 1985; [http://legionofhonor.famsf.org./legion/collections/japanese-prints#
36: 1833 Jihinari¹⁶¹⁶Fine Japanese Prints from the Collection of Sidney C. Ward /.../ November 5, 1985. New York: Christie’s, Manson & Woods International, 1985.
37: 1834 Jihinari, age 74¹⁷¹⁷Ward, Sidney C., One Hundred Surimono in the Collection of Sidney C. Ward. Privately Published, 1976, p. 43.
39: 1836 Jihinari, age 76, Private collection
43: 1840 Hiroshige¹⁸¹⁸Hempel, Rose, Ukiyo-e. Die Kunst der heiteren vergänglichen Welt, Japan 17.?19. Jahrhundert, Sammlung Scheiwe. Recklinghuisen: Bongers, 1972, p. 504.
44: 1841 Hiroshige¹⁹¹⁹Uchida, Minoru, Hiroshige. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1930, p. 85.
51: 1848 Hiroshige - Lieftinck Sale 132, pl 3; Andon (2), 53
??: 1820s Toyohiro.²⁰²⁰Fujisawa Morihiko korekushon surimono o chuushin to shite (The Fujisawa Morihiko Collection: with a Stress on Surimono) Tokyo: Ota Memorial Museum of Art, 1998, p. 96.

The Twenty-fifth Year, Nijugonentsuzuki, from the series The Happy Annual Custom of Asahina Continued by Jihinari, Jihinari kichirei Asahina, issued by the poet Sakuragawa Jihinari, 1822.

The warrior in this design is the popular hero Asahina Saburo, a servant of Kudo Suketsune, the villain in the Soga drama. Asahina defected to the Soga brothers (for a lengthier discussion about the protagonists in this kabuki drama, see RP-P-1958-416). He is portrayed across almost the full width of the sheet, dressed in a black kimono decorated with cherry blossoms floating on a stream, his breast bare, and wearing a belt, mawashi, around his waist. He holds a hobby-horse in his right hand, with the cloth reins hanging around his neck. A blossoming plum tree behind him.

The hobby-horse is an obvious allusion to the zodiacal sign for 1822, a Year of the Horse.

No poems.

Issued by the poet Sakuragawa Jihinari
Signature reading: Toyohiro ga

M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 192

M. Forrer, 2013, 'Utagawa Toyohiro, A Warrior Holding a Hobby-horse, Japan, 1822', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200470286