Totoya Hokkei (1780–1850)
The Irises of Yatsuhashi at Mikawa (Mikawa Yatsuhashi, kakitsubata), from the series Famous Products of the Various Provinces, for the Gogawa Group (Gogawa, Shokoku meibutsu), about 1810
Woodblock print, surimono, embellished with metallic pigments and embossing
Shikishiban:
20.5 x 18.3 cm.
8 1/8 x 7 1/4 in.
20.5 x 18.3 cm.
8 1/8 x 7 1/4 in.
Signed: Hokkei
Privately published, circa 1810
Privately published, circa 1810
Sold
In this surimono an orange cloth pouch decorated with a criss-cross pattern lies next to some paper and two iris flowers. The cloth pouch is for holding writing paper. The...
In this surimono an orange cloth pouch decorated with a criss-cross pattern lies next to some paper and two iris flowers. The cloth pouch is for holding writing paper.
The diamond pattern on the pouch is known as Narihira-bishi and was used as a textile design especially for men's kimono. The name stems from a scene in the classical tale Ise monogatari where the early Heian period poet and famous lover Ariwara no Narihira (825-880) visits Yatsuhashi ('Eight Bridges'); a place where eight planked bridges once zig-zagged over the river channels surrounded by irises. The Narihira-bishi with it's criss-cross pattern alludes to this bridge and combined here with poetry paper and iris flowers, points to this famous episode. The metal clasp on the pouch is in the form of the Gogawa poetry club logo - the character for 'five' (go), which is also repeated in the inscription at the upper right in red pigment.
The kyoka verse above by Ise no Hamaguri reads:
Kesa haru ni
Narihira-bishi no
Ima mekite
Kumode ni sae mo
Kasumu nodokesa
As spring dawns this morning
marsh flowers now appear
so splendidly - with walkways,
spread out like spider legs,
covered in layers of gentle mist.
For the poem translation see Joan B. Mirviss and John T. Carpenter, Jewels of Japanese Printmaking: Surimono of the Bunka-Bunsei Era 1804-1830, (Tokyo, 2000), cat. no. 32, p. 80-81.
Other impressions:
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, accession no. 11.19820, go to:
https://collections.mfa.org/objects/212448
Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, object no. 2011.017.016, go to: https://emuseum.cornell.edu/objects/44626/the-irises-of-yatsuhashi-mikawa-mikawa-yatsuhashi-kakisuba
The diamond pattern on the pouch is known as Narihira-bishi and was used as a textile design especially for men's kimono. The name stems from a scene in the classical tale Ise monogatari where the early Heian period poet and famous lover Ariwara no Narihira (825-880) visits Yatsuhashi ('Eight Bridges'); a place where eight planked bridges once zig-zagged over the river channels surrounded by irises. The Narihira-bishi with it's criss-cross pattern alludes to this bridge and combined here with poetry paper and iris flowers, points to this famous episode. The metal clasp on the pouch is in the form of the Gogawa poetry club logo - the character for 'five' (go), which is also repeated in the inscription at the upper right in red pigment.
The kyoka verse above by Ise no Hamaguri reads:
Kesa haru ni
Narihira-bishi no
Ima mekite
Kumode ni sae mo
Kasumu nodokesa
As spring dawns this morning
marsh flowers now appear
so splendidly - with walkways,
spread out like spider legs,
covered in layers of gentle mist.
For the poem translation see Joan B. Mirviss and John T. Carpenter, Jewels of Japanese Printmaking: Surimono of the Bunka-Bunsei Era 1804-1830, (Tokyo, 2000), cat. no. 32, p. 80-81.
Other impressions:
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, accession no. 11.19820, go to:
https://collections.mfa.org/objects/212448
Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, object no. 2011.017.016, go to: https://emuseum.cornell.edu/objects/44626/the-irises-of-yatsuhashi-mikawa-mikawa-yatsuhashi-kakisuba