…; purchased from the dealer Boswell Books and Prints, London, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1985;¹¹Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 21, cat. no. 28 by whom donated to the museum, 1991

Object number: RP-P-1991-569

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

A masked bugaku dancer, a 'bird's helmet', torikabuto, on his head, a spear in his hand. The design is shaped as a hand-scroll with part of the string shown at right, two poems on the narrow panel at right, a long text at left.

The text on the left opens with a reference to Ise calendars, Isegoyomi, followed by the usual advice for people born under specific zodiacal signs. The emblem of the Asakusagawa adorns the robes of the dancer. This print would have been folded before being presented.

Ise calendars, Isegoyomi, are a type of almanac sheet indicating which actions are either good, auspicious or to be avoided on certain days for people born in specific years. They originate from well before the Edo period.

Two poems by Keimeitei Akikata and [Waka no] Urashio ['changed his name to', aratame Kogane Tsurunari].

Both poems are unrelated to the dancer in the design, the first reads:
At the ferry landing, the Spring breeze carries my calls for the boat and the blooming plums to the far bank.

Issued by the Asakusagawa (also known as Tsubogawa)
Signature reading: Teisai Hokuba ga, with red seal shaped as a horse, reading: Ba

M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 125

M. Forrer, 2013, 'Teisai Hokuba, Bugaku Dancer, Japan, c. 1800 - c. 1805', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200415815