…; purchased from the dealer Hotei Japanese Prints, Leiden, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1984;¹¹Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 19, cat. no. 22 by whom donated to the museum, 1991

Object number: RP-P-1991-545

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

This series on the theme of sugoroku, a variant of backgammon, is associated with the New Horse Year, as the stones used in that game are called ‘horses’, uma. No other designs from this set have been identified. In many respects, this series is reminiscent of Hokkei's series for the Hyotanren for the same year titled A Series of Famous Horses, Meiba bantsuzuki, although the printing of that series is somewhat harsher.

A man seated before a standing screen (or is it the back of his chair?), playing sugoroku, a kind of backgammon, with a lady.

From their clothing, it is obvious that the figures are Chinese. They may represent the Chinese T'ang emperor Hsüan Tsung (685-762, Jp.: Genso), and his favourite concubine Yang Kuei-fei (719-56), or Yokihi as she is known in Japanese. More commonly, however, the pair is depicted playing the flute together in Japanese art.

The emblem of the Gogawa appears both as the title cartouche and on the side of the sugoroku board.

One poem by Kitsugoen [Kakumi, earlier Chikuitsuen Chihiro, also Toyokaku, a Chinese living in Edo, later in Owari Province and a judge of the Gogawa].²²Kano, Kaian (ed.), Kyoka jinmei jisho (Dictionary of Names of Kyoka Poets). Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1928), p. 41.

The poem contains a reference to the New Horse Year; the stones used in the game are known as ‘horses’ or ‘colts’.

Print from A Series of Prints on the Sugaroku Game Sugoroku bantsuzuki.

Issued by the Gogawa
Signature reading: Hokkei, with seal: Hokkei

M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 290

M. Forrer, 2013, 'Totoya Hokkei, A Man Playing Backgammon with a Lady, Japan, 1822', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200497916