…; the dealer or collection Hayashi Tadamasa (1853-1906) (L. 2971);…; purchased from the dealer Kunsthandel Huys den Esch, Dodewaard, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1990;¹¹Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 67, cat. no. 151 by whom donated to the museum, 1991

Object number: RP-P-1991-675

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

The poet Naritake is represented on various surimono in the collection, most of them designed by Gakutei in the 1820s (e.g., RP-P-1958-453). However, he also worked with Shinsai, see, for example, a print dated 1818 that he commissioned himself.²²Keyes, Roger S., Surimono: Privately Published Japanese Prints in the Spencer Museum of Art. Tokyo/New York: Kodansha International Ltd., 1984, p. 50. In 1822, he published the kyoka collection Sokan kyoka awase (untranslatable), illustrated by Gakutei.³³Suga, Chikuho, Kyoka shomoku shusei. Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977, p. 68.

A courtier dressed in formal clothing decorated with floral patterns and wearing a court-cap, eboshi, sitting at a low writing-table, holding a poetry-slip, tanzaku. More poetry-slips on the table. Behind him a seated court-lady holding an open fan. A pot of brushes and two ink-stones for making ink, sumi, by the table.

The two figures are dressed in the classical court attire commonly associated with the Heian period (794-1185).

One poem by Harunoya Naritake [also Asane Naritake, a judge of the Honchoren].⁴⁴Kano, Kaian (ed.), Kyoka jinmei jisho (Dictionary of Names of Kyoka Poets). Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1928), p. 157. The poem alludes to the First Writing of the New Year, kakizome.

Issued by the poet
Signature reading: Agematsu Toshu hitsu

M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 188

M. Forrer, 2013, 'Uematsu Tôshû, A Courtier Preparing to Write a Poem, Japan, c. 1800 - c. 1805', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200467495