Surimono of miscellaneous subjects

 

Description: Two ladies watching boys catching fireflies with bamboo sticks.  The women were draw by Utagawa Kuninao and the children were drawn by Kuniyoshi.

Size: Nagaban (approximately 8 by 20 inches or 20 by 50 centimeters)

Date: c. 1835

Schaap: 1.a.1

Description: A minogame (thousand-year-old tortoise) appearing to the seven gods of good luck all dressed as figures from Japanese history and legend

Size: Nagaban (approximately 8 by 20 inches or 20 by 50 centimeters)

Date: c. 1836

Schaap: 1.a.2

Description: Detail of the trunk of a large flowering cherry tree

Size:

Date: c. 1835

Schaap: 1.a.3

 

No image available

 

Description: A plum tree

Size:

Date: c. 1835

Schaap: 1.a.4

Description: Autumn grasses and a full moon

Size: Nagaban (approximately 8 by 20 inches or 20 by 50 centimeters)

Date: c. 1831

Schaap: 1.a.5

 

No image available

 

Description: Autumn grasses and a full moon

Size: Nagaban (approximately 8 by 20 inches or 20 by 50 centimeters)

Date: c. 1831

Schaap: 1.a.6

 

NOTE: This surimono is unsigned and different from the above print.

Description: A three footed dish (shimadai, 島台) with a miniature representation of the Takasago pine with the old couple Joo and Uba, the thousand-year tortoise, and a flying crane

Size: Nagaban (approximately 8 by 20 inches or 20 by 50 centimeters)

Date: 1830-1840

Schaap: 1.a.8

 

NOTE: The pine, tortoise and crane are symbols of longevity, fortune and lifelong partnership.  They were displayed at weddings and at significantly numbered wedding anniversaries.  This surimono was probably made for a wedding or anniversary.  I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this information.

Description: The seven gods of good luck (Shichifukujin, 七福神) imitating the five annual festivals.

Size: Horizontal double ôban; 38.1 x 51.6 cm (15 x 20 5/16 in.)

Date: 1832-1833

Publisher: Iga-ya Kan'emon

Schaap: 1.b.5

 

NOTE: This surimono bears the signatures of 10 different artists.  Only Bishamonten, in the bottom center, is signed by Kuniyoshi.

Description: The seven gods of good luck being entertained by a chanter

Size: 40.6 by 55.8 centimeters

Date:

Schaap: 1.b.6

Description: The warrior Hatakeyama no Shigetada (1164-1205) carrying his horse down a steep cliff

Size: 5.25 x 7.25 inches (13.3 x 18.4 cm)

Date: 1848

Schaap: 1.c.4

Another state of the above design.  In addition to being a surimono, this print is also an e-goyomi (絵暦), meaning that it has concealed numbers indicating the long and short months of the year:

A map of a country

Description automatically generated with low confidence

 

No image available

 

Description: A dragon in a dark cloud rising to the top of Mount Fuji

Size: 18.4 by 24.5 centimeters

Date: probably 1844

Schaap: 1.c.5

Description: A hare and a badger standing by a plum tree in a scene from a kabuki play

Size: 12.0 by 16.0 centimeters

Date: 1855

Schaap: 1.c.6

 

NOTE: This print is a calendar (e-goyomi).  The animals are holding a banner listing the long () and short () months of the year.  I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this image.

 

Description: A spray of camellia, a bamboo tea scoop (chashaku) and a small turtle-shape box with a lid 

Size: 45 by 37 centimeters

Date:

Schaap: 1.c.7

 

NOTE: The unusual size suggests that this is a fragment of a larger surimono.

 

Title: A series of two on the stories of the Han and Chû (Kansô niban no uchi)

Description: Huang Shigong (Kosekiho) and Zhang Liang (Choryo)

Size: 41.3 × 16.5 cm (16 ¼ × 6 ½ inches)

Date: c. 1834

 

NOTE: This surimono is unsigned, and therefore the attribution must be considered tentative.  

 

 

No image available

 

Description: Portrait of the sumô wrestler Hirado Hiiryokubi

Size:

Date:

Schaap: 2.8

 

 

Description: Hattara Sonji, a disciple of Buddha, with his white tiger

Size:

Date: 1830

Schaap: 2.9

 

 

Another state of the above design in which the tiger is yellow-orange

 

Description: Guan Yu, Liu Bei, and Zhang Fei (the three heroes of the Chinese kingdom of Shu) playing a game of ken

Size:

Date: c. 1840

Schaap: 2.10

 

 

Description: Still life of a koto, a branch of plum in a bronze vase, a kimono and a scroll painting of Mount Fuji

Size: Shikishiban (about 8 by 7 inches or 21 by 18 centimeters)

Date:

Schaap: 4.2

 

 

I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this alternate state with different poems.

 

Description: Similar to above with different pattern on the kimono, different poems, and lacking emblem of the Taikogawa poetry group in right-upper corner 

Size: Shikishiban (about 8 by 7 inches or 21 by 18 centimeters)

Date:

Schaap: 4.2b

 

No image available

 

Description: Three open fans alluding to three noh plays

Size:

Date:

Schaap: 4.3

 

 

No image available

 

Title: Harimaze jôruri kagami oishi

Description:

Size:

Date: c. 1854

Schaap: 4.4

 

 

Description: Bird flying

Size:

Date:

Schaap: Not listed

 

Description: Mice at play

Size: Shikishiban (about 8 by 7 inches or 21 by 18 Date:

Schaap: Not listed

 

I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this image.

Description: Children playing in the snow

Size: Nagaban (approximately 8 by 20 inches or 20 by 50 centimeters)

Date: 1826

Schaap: Not listed

Title: Edo Kanda In-and-out Hotel and Kubota Store

Size:

Date:

Schaap: Not listed

 

Note: This is an advertising print (hikifuda) and not a true surimono.  Image and information courtesy of Guy Pepermans  

Description:

Size:

Date:

Schaap: Not listed

Description: Steaming vessel with poem

Size:

Date:

Schaap: Not listed

Description: Dragon and Mt. Fuji 

Size: 18.5 x 24.5 cm 

Date: c. 1837-1840

Schaap: Not listed

 

I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this image.

Description: Geisha offering a drink to a samurai

Size: 11.5×16.5 cm

Date: 1854

Schaap: Not listed

Description: A gentleman followed by porters carrying a good luck money tree and other New Year’s gifts

Size: 13.5 x 15 cm

Date: c. 1841-1842

Schaap: Not listed

 

NOTE: The text on the porter carrying the gift box reads Kubota (久保田), which is present presant day Akita Prefecture.  I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this image.

 

“Schaap” refers to listing in Heroes and Ghosts: Japanese Prints by Kuniyoshi by Robert Schaap (Hotei Publishing, Leiden, 1998).

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