Geisha stemt haar shamisen

Shigenobu (II) (vermeld op object), ca. 1825 - ca. 1830

Een geisha stemt haar shamisen. Voor haar staat een blad met hengsel, tabakobon, waartegen een muziekboek staat. De poes kijkt toe. Bloesem op de achtergrond. Het woord bloem (hana) is ook wel synoniem voor geisha. De titel refereert aan een vrijgekochte geisha maar zou ook een persoonlijke assistent kunnen betekenen. Met drie gedichten.

  • Soort kunstwerkprent, surimono
  • ObjectnummerRP-P-1991-465
  • Afmetingenblad: hoogte 208 mm (shikishiban) x breedte 182 mm
  • Fysieke kenmerkenkleurenhoutsnede; blinddruk; lijnblok in zwart met kleurblokken; metaalpigmenten

Yanagawa Shigenobu (II)

Geisha Tuning her Shamisen

Japan, Japan, Japan, Japan, c. 1825 - c. 1830

Inscriptions

  • inscription, verso, handwritten: Japanese character for number 10.

Provenance

…; purchased from the dealer Hotei Japanese Prints, Leiden, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1983;1Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 39, cat. no. 78 by whom donated to the museum, 1991

Object number: RP-P-1991-465

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


The artist

Biography

Yanagawa Shigenobu II (died after 1868), a pupil of Yanagawa Shigenobu, first used the name Shigeyama or, incorrectly often read as Juzan, and either took the name of his teacher after Shigenobu left for Osaka, or only after his death in 1833.


Entry

A geisha tuning her shamisen, a songbook on a stand in front of her. On the veranda a cat, a blossoming plum in the garden.

Number Four: The Redeemed Geisha, Sono yon - Teike no hana, from the series A Comparison of Flowers, Hana awase.

The print-title refers to a redeemed geisha who has been bought by a client, also having the connotation of a personal assistant.

Three poems by Rakuyoan, Ryueishi and Buwaian Futaki [also Kamokuen or Sankai Chinjin, early name Kinjuen Futaki, a judge of the Sugawararen, publishing from 1826, d. 1843].2Kano, Kaian (ed.), Kyoka jinmei jisho (Dictionary of Names of Kyoka Poets). Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1928), p. 199. The poet Buwaian Futaki seems to have still used the name Kinjuen in 1825 and 1827.

Issued by the Sugawararen
Signature reading: Yanagawa Shigenobu, with seal: Yanagawa


Literature

M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 378


Citation

M. Forrer, 2013, ', Yanagawa (II) Shigenobu, Geisha Tuning her Shamisen, Japan, c. 1825 - c. 1830', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200473170

(accessed 8 December 2025 18:57:47).

Footnotes

  • 1Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 39, cat. no. 78
  • 2Kano, Kaian (ed.), Kyoka jinmei jisho (Dictionary of Names of Kyoka Poets). Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1928), p. 199.