Nashitsubo no gokasen – Five immortal poetesses of the Pear Chamber. A series of surimono by Katsushika Hokusai.

Introduction

Katsushika Hokusai’s (1760-1849) artistic oeuvre

has been extensively researched in past decades. It

is therefore surprising that little attention has so

far been given to a set of five surimono published

in the mid-1820s. Each print in this set, known as

the gokasen (Five Immortal Poets), shows two or

three poems and a woman dressed in the

elaborate court robes of the Heian period (794-

1192). The term gokasen or nashitsubo no gokasen

(five immortal poets of the Pear Chamber) refers

to a group of five poetesses believed to have been

maids of honour to Jôtô mon’in (988-1074),1 also

known as Fujiwara Akiko, the wife of Emperor

Ichijô (980-1011). The members of the group were

Ise no Tayû, Izumi Shikibu, Murasaki Shikibu,

Akazome no Emon, and Uma no Naishi.

In recent times the gokasen have been

somewhat overshadowed by more popular groups

of poets, the rokkasen (six immortal poets), the

sanjûrokkasen (thirty-six immortal poets), or the

poets associated with the Hyakunin isshu (One

Hundred Poets, One Hundred Poems Each).2 The

nashitsubo no gokasen are probably modeled on the

nashitsubo no gonin (The five men of the Pear

Chamber), five male poets responsible for the

selection of poems for the Gosenshû (Later

Collection), one of the imperial poetry anthologies

completed about 960. They were also responsible

for revisions of the Man’yôshû (Collection of Ten

Thousand Leaves).3 Confusingly, this group of male

poets is sometimes also referred to as nashitsubo no

gokasen.

The aim of this article is to introduce the

gokasen and, more importantly, illuminate this

remarkable series of surimono by giving a personal

interpretation of the interplay between the poems

and Hokusai’s designs.

Surimono and kyôka clubs

Surimono (literally ‘printed things’) are limited

edition prints commissioned to commemorate

special occasions, like the start of a new year or a

significant change of career. They are usually

magnificently printed with expensive pigments on

high-quality, thick paper and frequently embossed

with and gold and silver. Their quality emphasised

the status of the group or the individual that had

commissioned the surimono.

Surimono usually show a combination of

poems and image. As a rule the poems preceded

the image, and act as visual reference to the

verses. Many surimono were commissioned by

poetry clubs (ren, kumi, or gawa) to be presented to

friends or other poets. The refined interplay

between the image and poems, replete with puns

and allusions, was meant to challenge and amuse

the receiver.4

The poems are usually of the kyôka (literally

‘mad poems’) genre. These light-hearted and often

witty 31-syllable poems (tanka) became

increasingly popular during the Edo period (1600-

1868), especially in the late 18th and early

19thcentury. The kyôka vogue resulted in an

extensive network of kyôka clubs. These clubs and

their members became important customers for

luxuriously printed surimono. The kyôka craze

ended when the last of the major poets died in the

late 1820s.

Who exactly commissioned the Gokasen series

from Hokusai is not known. One of the kyôka

poets, who had a poem included in the series, is

Shakuyakutei Nagane (1767-1845). Nagane was a

highly influential kyôka master and leader of the

Shakuyaku (peony) club. However, on the

surimono of this Gokasen series there is no peony

emblem depicted but a stylised red five-petaled

Andon 88 28

Nashitsubo no gokasen -Five immortal poetessesof the Pear ChamberA ser ies of surimono by Katsushika Hokusai

Helena Capkováv

plum blossom emblem inscribed with the three

characters for gokasen stamped in the upper right

corner.5 So far no kyôka club has been identified

using this emblem, but a five-petaled plum

blossom is often related to Shakuyatei Nagane.

Moreover, poets could be active in several kyôka

circles. In spite of Nagane’s presence, and the use

of a five-petaled plum blossom, the identity of the

club who commissioned the series remains unclear.

Kokugaku and kyôka

The five famous female poets depicted in

Hokusai’s surimono series refer to the refined court

life of the Heian period. This choice of subject may

reflect the re-evaluation and re-appreciation of the

literary classics in the context of the study of

Japanese philology, philosophy and history known

as kokugaku (literally ‘national learning’).6 Several

kyôka poets had direct links with kokugaku scholars

or were themselves active in this field. Meetings of

kyôka clubs sometimes resembled the poetry

contests (uta awase) at the Heian court. Poets were

divided into two teams (left and right) and

composed poems that were subsequently judged

by referees (hanja). Participants paid a fee and the

‘winning’ poems were edited and published. Kyôka

referees were authorities and the production of

surimono constituted an important part of their

income.7 It is probable that Hokusai’s Gokasen

series, commissioned by the hypothetical ‘plum’

kyôka club, is the outcome of such an uta awase.

Scholarly comments on the gokasen

After the fall of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1868

the gokasen seem to lose their attraction as a source

of inspiration for poets and print artists.8 Apart

from entries in a few reference works there are

only two scholarly works on the gokasen from the

20th century. One is Nashitsubo no gokasen by Onoe

Hachirô (1876-1957), published in 1902. Onoe

focuses on the merits of the individual poetesses

but is more reticent about them as a group.9 He

describes the women as ladies in waiting to the

Empress Jôtô mon’in who were all involved in

poetry and lived in a part of the imperial palace

called the ‘Pear Chamber’ (nashitsubo). In his

conclusion, he considers by the quality of their

poems there are only three immortal poets

(sankasen): Ise no Tayû, and Uma no Naishi are in

Onoe’s opinion not good enough to be included in

the group.10

The second work of reference, ‘Nashitsubo no

gonin to gokasen’ (‘The Five Immortal Poets and the

Five Men from the Pear Chamber’), is an article by

Fujita Tokutarô published in 1941.11 Fujita puts our

female gokasen next to the better-known group of

male poets, the nashitsubo no gonin. The male

group, he states, were appointed by Emperor

Murakami in 951 and their office was situated in

the Pear Chamber of the imperial palace in Kyoto.

The group consisted of five great poets:

Ônakotomi Yoshinobu, Minamoto Shitagô,

Kiyowara Motosuke, Ki no Tokibumi, and

Sakanoe Mochiki. Fujita claims the female gokasen

were not widely considered to be a genuinely

historical group of poets. Scholars agreed that the

earliest description of them can be found in the

work of the philosopher and botanist Kaibara

Ekiken (1630-1740). According to Fujita the origin

of the gokasen is much older. To support this

contention he refers to two sources from the 12th

and 13th centuries respectively. Fujita found that

the female gokasen are mentioned in the

Etsumokushô, a revered treatise on the composition

of tanka.12 This work not only mentions all five

poetesses, but also their famous contemporary Sei

Shônagon (965- after 1010), a member of the circle

around the empress Teishi (976-1001). She was

subsequently included in the concept of gokasen,

despite this meaning the group had six instead of

five ‘members’. Etsumokushô describes her as the

daughter of Kiyowara Motosuke (908-990), who

was one of the nashitsubo no gonin. Fujita also notes

that the Pear Chamber was separate from the

empress’s living quarters and it is unlikely the

women ever entered this place and so even less

likely they lived there. He suggests they probably

lived in the Wisteria Chamber (fujitsubo), the usual

residence of an imperial consort.

Similar information can be found in a literary

source from the 13th century, Jukkinshô (also

pronounced Jukkunshô). This work adds Koshikibu

no Naishi (Izumi Shikibu’s daughter) to the group

which, according to Fujita, would mean that the

gokasen could be renamed nashitsubo no shichikasen

(seven immortal poets from the Pear Chamber).13

Fujita concludes that the terms gonin (five persons)

and gokasen (five immortal poets) were used for

Andon 88 29

both the male and the female groups. However, he

states that there is a tendency to use gonin for the

male group and gokasen for the female group of

poets.

Hokusai’s representation

of the gokasen

For his series Hokusai used bold, yet simple

compositions and striking contrasts. Each of the

five prints represents one of the five court ladies,

accompanied by few adornments. The ladies

appear to be floating in the empty background

which creates an atmosphere of contemplation

and loneliness.14 The absence of accessories forces

the viewer to concentrate on the faces of the

elegant poetesses, the sumptuous designs of their

gowns, and the poems. Each woman is depicted

wearing a formal outfit called karaginumo (also

known as jûnihitoe, ‘robe of twelve layers’). At the

Heian court a refined combination of colours and

patterns was considered a sign of cultivation and

good taste. Apart from the season and occasion, it

reflected the wearer’s personality. Each of the

poetesses depicted wears striking orange-red

trousers (hakama) and a kasaneuchigi or itsutsuginu

(five-layered robe), complemented by

undergarments, singlets, a skirt (mo) with two ties

(hikigoshi), and an over robe (karaginu). Each of the

women has a court fan (hiôgi) decorated with pine

sprigs and a silk cords with knotted tassels, either

in her hand or lying in front of her.15

In captions to two surimono of Hokusai’s

Gokasen series, in the Chester Beatty Collection,

Roger Keyes writes: “Hokusai has drawn each of

them in an elaborate court gown, but there is no

obvious attempt to distinguish them individually,

either in the designs or in the accompanying

poems”.16 Under closer inspection the way

Hokusai approached the subject of the court

ladies, in this series, differs from both traditional

and contemporary depictions. The traditional, and

often anonymous portraits of the female ‘immortal

poets’ (kasen-e) use simple dots for the eyes and a

little hook for the nose (hikime kagihana). Often the

poetesses were depicted from the back, their faces

obscured. The focus was on their long black hair

and colourful gowns. However, Hokusai uses the

plain background and the colours of the gowns to

draw attention to the faces that are rendered in

delicate lines. He also shows the poetesses from

different angles. This more detailed rendering

lends a subtle sense of emotion to the faces of the

poets. This attention to facial details also appears

in other works by Hokusai and his pupils.17

Interestingly, around 1820 one of Hokusai’s

most successful pupils, Totoya Hokkei (1780-1850),

designed a surimono depicting Fujiwara Akiko

(Jôtô mon’in), the wife of Emperor Ichijô, and

supposed employer of the five poetesses (fig. 1).

This surimono is similar in composition to

Hokusai’s Gokasen: an empty background, a lady

in a bright orange-red hakama, the intricate

patterns of the gown and the detailed rendering of

the face. It can be considered complementary to

the five other gokasen surimono.18

Other gokasen series

Print series depicting the female gokasen are rare.

Only two series entitled Nashitsubo Gokasen

provide comparative material. One is the

Nashitsubo Gokasen surimono series by Yanagawa

Shigenobu II (active 1820s-1850s); the print

depicting Ise no Tayû is in the British Museum’s

collection. Shigenobu used the image of a

courtesan from his own era; her back is to a

mirror, on a plain background. At the top right are

two cartouches with the series’ title, the poet’s

name and a poem. The patron’s identity is not

recognisably represented in the print.

The second is a series of five Nashitsubo

Gokasen prints in ôban format (c. 36 x 25 cm)

designed by Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1864) in the

1840s.19 This series also represents contemporary

women against a plain background decorated

with silvery flakes, a yellow cloud line and two

overlapping square cartouches; one with a poem

and the poetess’s name, the other with a picture

alluding to the poem. A comparison between the

three series leads us to the conclusion that

Hokusai’s surimono are of superior printing

quality; moreover, his depictions of the court

ladies are much more artistically refined than

those of Shigenobu and Kunisada.

Five poetesses

The poetesses of the Hokusai series discussed here

are depicted anonymously: there are no

Andon 88 30

Andon 88 31

� 1. Fujiwara Akiko, the

wife of emperor Ichijö, in

front of a curtain.

Date: c. 1820, signature:

Hokkei, dimensions: 22.4 x

18.5 cm.

Courtesy of Hotei Publishing.

This copy is in the collection of

the Rijksprentenkabinet/

Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, The

Netherlands

Andon 88 32

� 2. A court lady taking of

her robe – Izumi Shikibu.

Date: early to mid-1820s,

signature: Hokusai aratame

Iitsu hitsu, dimensions: 20.2

x 18.5 cm.

Courtesy of the Chiossone

Museum of Japanese Art (S 572),

Municipality of Genoa, Italy.

This design is also found in the

collection of the Chester Beatty

collection in Dublin (1237a,

Hayashi), Náprstek Museum (CR,

NAPR 31769), the British

Museum, Library of Congress

Washington DC, Centre

Culturel de Marais exhibition

(b&w pl. 68) inter alia.

cartouches or labels stating their names. It is also

impossible to directly identify the poetesses from

the poems. It seems the set was designed as a

challenge to the viewer to discover which poetess

is depicted on each surimono. Taking up the

gauntlet, I will, in the following paragraphs try to

determine who is who.

Taking off her robe (fig. 2)

The poet is seen standing with a ceremonial

folding fan in front of her and removing her over

robe which is richly decorated with peonies and

phoenixes on a net-patterned purple background.

The hem of the over robe is adorned with a

geometrical flowers-in-diamonds (hanabishi)

pattern that is repeated in her undergarment.

Peonies (botan), the ‘king of flowers’, are symbols

of good fortune, high honour, and the season of

spring. Moreover, they carry an erotic meaning.20

In textiles, peonies are often combined with

phoenixes (hôô) they signify good luck and

longevity and symbolize imperial power.21 The fan

is decorated with orange-red, knotted tassels and

pine sprigs, which allude to the New Year. The

three kyôka poems are arranged diagonally to

follow the left outline of the figure.

The first poem (on the right) by Senbatei

Teodori reads:

文車のめぐる Fuguruma no meguru

月日をゆびをりて tsukihi wo yubiorite

まちわぶる春の machiwaburu haru no

うぐひすのこゑ uguisu no koe.

I counted the days

on the turning wheels of the book cart,

tired of waiting

for the voice of the spring warbler.

The second poem by Ashinoya Yûzuru reads:

梅がえを添えし文箱の Umegae wo soeshifubako no

ひもときてひらくもうれしhimo tokite hiraku mo ureshi

萬のすじめ yorozu no sujime.

The joy of opening the letter box with the plum

branch,

of untying the cord,

spreading out everything and flattening the creases.

The third poem by Shun’itei Sodenari reads:

来る春をまちえし宿の東窓 Kuru haru wo machieshi yado

no higashimado

羽をのす鶴のうつる鳥影 ha wo nosu tsuru no utsuru

torikage.

On the eastern window of the dwelling where we

awaited spring,

the crane spreads its wings and casts a shadow.22

The first kyôka mentions the warbler (uguisu),

which in Japanese poetry is a favourite allusion to

early spring, this bird is also called haru-tsuge-dori

(spring-announcing bird). This longing for spring,

also expressed in the third kyôka, can be

interpreted as waiting for a lover. The Hyakunin

isshu contains a poem by Izumi Shikubu that

reads:

Soon I cease to be;

One fond memory I would keep

When beyond this world.

Is there, then, no way for me

Just once more to meet with thee?

The idea of waiting until ‘he’ replies or returns is

expressed in the kyôka on the surimono as well as in

Izumi Shikibu’s poem included in the Hyakunin

isshu and it is very possible that Hokusai has

depicted Shikibu in this surimono. The gesture of

removing a robe may point to an intimate

encounter with the lover; the letterbox mentioned

in the second kyôka might contain a letter

promising he will come back soon and imploring

her to forget the problems of the past (flattening

the creases). However, the shadow of the crane

(tsuru, a bird that symbolizes longevity and good

fortune) mentioned in the third kyôka, tells us that

another encounter with the lover is unlikely.

The fragrance of incense (fig. 3)

Sitting holding an incense container the poet is

dressed in an orange-red hakama and multi-

layered over robe decorated with both

tortoiseshell and flowers-in-diamonds patterns.

Her pleated skirt has stylized landscapes. A closed

fan decorated with purple knotted braids, pine

sprigs and plum blossoms lies in front of her next

Andon 88 33

Andon 88 34

� 3. A court lady holding

an incense container – Ise

no Tayü. Date: early to

mid-1820s, signature:

Hokusai aratame Iitsu hitsu,

dimensions: 20 x 18 cm.

Courtesy of the Chiossone

Museum of Japanese Art

(S-573), Municipality of Genoa,

Italy.

Also in the Chester Beatty

collection in Dublin (1237b),

Harvard University Art

Museums, Museum of Fine Arts,

Boston (accession no. 11.20419),

Centre Culturel de Marais

exhibition (b&w pl. 69), Polster &

Marks, Prints by Elbow, 1980, p.

267 (F-D 19933-4-1777) inter

alia.

to a lacquer tray containing implements for the

incense ceremony. Her head is turned as if she is

startled by a sudden sound.

The poems by Taizanro Sakanoue Takamichi (on

the right) and by Shakuyakutei (on the left) read:

はる風に Haru kaze ni,

とめ木のかをり tomeki no kaori,

さそひ来て sasoikite

きくもゆかしき kiku mo yukashiki

鶯のこゑ uguisu no koe.

The fragrance of incense

comes forth on the spring breeze;

when it stays in the robes

it is as lovely

as the voice of a warbler.

花びらの数に Hanabira no kazu ni

ひとしき五つ衣 hitoshiki itsutsuginu

袖にとめ木は sode ni tomeki ha

梅がかぞする ume ga ka zo suru.

The flower has the same number of petals

as the five-layered gown;

incense gives plum fragrance

to the sleeves.

Both these kyôka describe how incense perfumes

clothing (tomeki) and in the first poem there is a

pun on the verb kiku. Apart from meaning ‘to

hear’ (kiku), can convey the idea of ‘becoming

aware of a fragrance’. The ear of the poetess and

the incense container in the centre of the

composition, echo this verbal pun. The key to the

identity of the second poetess probably lies in the

second poem, which compares the number of

petals to the number of layers of the gown

(itsutsuginu). In the Hyakunin isshu we find a poem

composed by Ise no Tayû (poem no. 61) which

reads as follows:

The eight-petaled cherries

from the Nara capital

of the ancient past

today nine layers thick

have bloomed within your court!

It is said the poetess composed this poem when

presented with an eight-petaled cherry blossom

and asked to commemorate the occasion with a

poem. Nine layers (kokonoe) refer to the imperial

court and its nine walls, but can also allude to the

nine-layered robes of the court ladies. It is possible

that the kyôka poets, of the five-petaled plum

blossom club, were inspired by this particular

poem of Ise no Tayû and jokingly replaced the

nine-layered robe with a five-layered one. The

warbler mentioned in the first poem may have

distracted the lady testing the plum fragrance and

so found its way into Hokusai’s design of Ise no

Tayû.

A full moon (fig. 4)

Shielding her face from the bright moon light and

dressed in a splendid over robe decorated with

bold crane crests is how we see the woman in fig. 4.

The skirt is patterned with connected square

ninestone motifs (tsunagi kokonotsu ishi) and

stylized Chinese flowers (karahana). A court fan,

adorned with orange-red tassels and pine sprigs,

lies open before the sitting figure who is bending

gracefully towards the full moon. The three kyôka

by, from right to left, Gamôtei Fudemochi, Seiyôen

Kagehiro, and Senbatei Teodori (his second one in

this set) read:

朧夜も Oboroyo mo

伊達な姿や date na sugata ya

たをやめのさていろ白な taoyame no sate irojirona

月の丸顔 tsuki no marugao.

In the misty moonlight,

the elegant figure of a graceful maiden;

her lovely round face is

shining white like the moon.

あまの戸を Ama no to wo

ひらけば匂ふ hirakeba niou

梅がかに ume ga ka ni

ゆたかの春を yutaka no haru wo

うたふ鶯 utau uguisu.

Heaven’s door opens

to the scent of plum blossoms,

to the warbler singing about

the bounty of spring.

Andon 88 35

Andon 88 36

� 4. Shielding off the

bright moon – Akazome

no Emon. Date: early to

mid-1820s, signature:

Hokusai aratame Iitsu hitsu,

dimensions: 20.9 x 18.6

cm.

Courtesy of the National Gallery

in Prague (Vm 1125), Czech

Republic.

Also in British Museum, Harvard

University Art Museums,

Worcester, Peter Morse

Collection (1988) col. pl. 196,

Polster & Marks, Prints by Elbow,

1980, p. 267 (F-D 19933-4-1776)

inter alia.

あけてけさ Akete kesa

ひらける春や hirakeru haru ya

檜扇の Hiôgi no

霞まはゆく Kasumi mabayuku

かさねさほ姫 kasane Saohime.

This dawn

spring has arrived.

Princess Sao

has closed her winter fan

adorned in shining mist.26

A court fan (hiôgi) was used from the tenth month

of the year to the third month of the following

year, and considered a symbol of winter. In this

poem, the goddess of spring, Princess Sao

(Saohime), appears at dawn in shining mist and

closes her winter fan signifying the arrival of spring.

In the first kyôka the lady’s round face is compared

to a shining moon. If, again, the poems of the

female gokasen in the Hyakunin isshu are studied,

a reference to the moon can be found in a poem by

Akazome no Emon.

Better to have slept

care-free, than to keep vain watch

through the passing night,

till I saw the lonely Moon,

traverse her descending path.27

This poem and the first one in the surimono,

suggest the lady has waited all night for a visitor

who did not arrive. In Kunisada’s Nashitsubo no

gokasen series, the artist depicts Akazome no Emon

awake during the night, partly covered by her

futon and smoking a pipe, while in the

background there is small picture of the moon.

A blossoming plum branch (fig. 5)

The lady seated in front of a blossoming plum

branch lying on a low stand is adorned in a court

dress very similar to the one in which Akazome

no Emon is depicted in the previous surimono (fig. 4).

This time the over robe is patterned with a

combination of tortoise shell motifs and crane

crests, symbolizing good fortune and longevity. In

her right hand she holds a court fan with long

orange-red braids and pine sprigs.

The kyôka on the right and left by, respectively,

Seikôsha Atozumi and Eikinsha Kohagi read:

きそはじめ Kisohajime

五つかさねの itsutsu kasane no

袖ふれて sode furete

おぼろに霞む oboro ni kasumu

月のまゆずみ tsuki no mayuzumi.

As she dons her new five-layered dress

for the first time in the New Year

and swings its sleeves,

her eyebrows resemble hazy crescents of the moon.

The word kisohajime mentioned in the first line,

refers to the tradition of wearing new clothes on

New Year’s Day.

梅ひと木 Ume hito ki

かろからぬ人の karokaranu hito no

うゑそめて ue somete

百目豊後と Hyakume Bungo to

名付おきけん nazuke okiken.

The man she loves

planted a plum tree

and strangely named it

‘an old tree from Bungo’.

The plum tree mentioned in the second kyôka may

allude to the episode in Sei Shônagon’s Pillow Book

- when she received a parcel from Fujiwara

Yukinari decorated with a plum blossom branch.28

Should that be the case this is a depiction of the

poetess Hokusai. In response to Yukinari’s gift she

sent him a note attached to a magnificent branch

of red plum blossom from Bungo province.

An empty birdcage (fig. 6)

Like the other poetesses from the series, the lady

standing next to a bird cage is dressed in formal

attire. Her outfit includes an orange-red hakama

and layers of robes with geometric patterns, her

over robe is patterned with purple bell flowers

(kikyô) and golden hazelwort (aoi) leaves while her

fan serves as a tray for several plum blossoms.

Interestingly, unlike the other court ladies she has

rouge with a green hue (sasabeni) on her lower

lip.29

Andon 88 37

Andon 88 38

� 5. A blossoming plume

branch – Sei Shönagon.

Date: early to mid-1820s,

signature: Hokusai aratame

Iitsu hitsu, dimensions: 21.3

x 18.8 cm.

Courtesy of the National Gallery

in Prague (Vm 1126), Czech

Republic.

Also in the British Museum,

Forrer, M. (Hokusai - A Guide to

the Serial Graphics, London

1974) b&w pl. 49, inter alia.

Andon 88 39

� 6. A court lady with a

birdcage – Murasaki

Shikibu

Date: early to mid-1820s,

signature: Hokusai aratame

Iitsu Hitsu, dimensions: 20

x 18 cm.

Courtesy of the Chiossone

Museum of Japanese Art (S-492),

Municipality of Genoa, Italy.

Another copy can be found in

the Tokyo National Museum

collection.

The kyôka on the right and left by, respectively,

Shûhôken Naoki and Ryûhôsha Kiyokaze read:

ふきくる風や Fuki kuru kaze ya

ゆかしき梅がかを yukashiki ume ga ka wo

扇にのせて ôgi ni nosete

いざさざけばや iza sazake baya.

Catch the lovely fragrance of plums

coming with the breeze of spring

on your fan,

let us celebrate!

はつ日影 Hatsu hikage

まぶかにかざす Mabuka ni kazasu

檜扇の手もとに霞む hiôgi no temoto ni kasumu

むらさきの房 murasaki no fusa.

The first sun rays

of the New Year

make the tassels of the cedar fan

look like purple mist.

The image and kyôka point to the The Tale of Genji

and to its author Murasaki Shikibu. The birdcage

recalls the Murasaki (Lavender) chapter in which a

young sparrow has escaped from its cage. The

image of the poet in the surimono relates to the

iconography of this chapter as suggested by

Murase Miyeko.30 The setting of the scene 1 of the

Lavender chapter reads: “... A nurse, perhaps in

her forties, is making an offering of flowers. She is

leaning against a central pillar and has a holy text

spread out on an armrest. There should be two

women and some children. Murasaki has on a soft

white singlet and a russet robe, and her hair

spreads over her shoulders like a fan. She is

lamenting for the baby sparrows that have got

loose.” This description of the scene is followed by

an illustration (fig. 7) which depicts a woman

standing and performing a flower offering ritual.

Her hands are raised as she drops few blossoms

on the ground. This iconography corresponds

with our poet whose hand is raised as in an

offering with blossoms scattered on her fan. The

word murasaki (purple or lavender-coloured) is

also used in the second kyôka.

Now the five poets have been identified it might

be interesting to devote some thoughts to the

authors whose kyôka appear in Hokusai’s surimono

set. Currently credit for a surimono is primarily

given to the artist who created the design.

However, we should be aware that in the heyday

of surimono production the status of the poet was

higher than that of the print artist who was

considered merely a craftsman. It was not unusual

the poets determined the iconography and even

some of the graphic aspects of the designs.

Information about the identities and careers of the

poets involved would, therefore, greatly

contribute to our understanding of the surimono.

Despite kyôka on surimono recently attracting

scholarly attention many kyôka poets remain

obscure.32 This is true of the poets who contributed

to this Gokasen set, with the exception of

Shakuyakutei Nagane, who was also an author of

popular books and an expert on swords.

Shakuyakutei Nagane

Shakuyakutei Nagane (or Sugawara Nagane),

whose name can be translated as ‘Peony with

Long Roots’, was born in Edo in 1767 into the

Hon’ami family of famous and highly-esteemed

sword makers. His common name was Jirôuemon.

At the beginning of the 19th century, he produced

several yomihon (popular books, literally ‘books for

reading’) that were illustrated by Hokusai. By that

time he had joined the Yomogawa kyôka club

headed by the influential Shikatsube no Magao.33

Around 1805 he moved to Shitaya Sanmaibashi

Andon 88 40

� 7. Women performing a

flower offering ritual

Detail from a scroll with

black and white

illustrations by Tosa

Mitsunori (1583-1638).

Courtesy of Weatherhill,

Iconography of the Tale of Genji,

Miyeko Murase, 1983.

and established his own club, known as the

Suigyo ren or Sugawara ren. He then called

himself Hôseido Kisanji II which suggests an

interesting link with the controversial author and

poet Tegara no Okamochi, also known as Hôseido

Kisanji I.

Shakuyakutei’s identity as a specialist and

polisher of swords deserves some elaboration as it

demonstrates the manifold activities and interests

of the people linked to the world of kyôka.

Shakuyakutei was said to have been a seventh-

generation descendant of the famous artist

Hon’ami Kôetsu (1558-1637). However, recently it

has been discovered he belonged to a different

branch of the family.34 In c. 1820 Shakuyakutei

published an appraisal of famous swords in a

book called Kôsei kotô meikan (A Revised Catalogue of

Old Swords). Furthermore, a tanzaku (poem card)

by Shakuyakutei has been preserved which

testifies to his remarkable skills. Apart from the

appraisal itself, the narrow slip of decorated

Japanese paper is inscribed by Shakuyakutei with

a poem celebrating the sword in question.

Appraisals in tanzaku format were a popular

phenomenon in the Edo period, a sign of

increased connoisseurship in many art forms

including painting, calligraphy, tea utensils, and

sword making. Shakuyakutei’s poem, rendered in

elegant script, likens the sword to “a sudden

shower of rain that drives even the most powerful

devils away”. The word menuki in the poem,

meaning ‘important’, is a pun on the word menuki,

‘hilt ornament’. The tanzaku identifies the sword,

whose menuki was decorated with demons, as one

made by the Hon’ami family. The poem now

serves as a kind of certificate of authenticity for

the sword.

Another source documenting Shakuyakutei’s

talent and other aspects of his life and work, is

Shakuyakutei Bushû (Shakuyakutei from Bushû,

Bushû refers to the area around Edo), which he

complied alongside friends and students near the

end of his life. In these recollections we find, for

instance, an account of a poetry contest and a

description of the poet as a connoisseur of

swords.36

A further source for Shakuyakutei’s sword

expertise is a surimono he commissioned from

Ryûryûkyo Shinsai (1764-1820) for the year 1810

(fig. 8). This surimono does not include poetry but

depicts objects used for kantei (sword evaluation).

Surimono without poems often served as

advertisements. They are known as e-goyomi,

calendar prints, because they often contain a

hidden calendar, a puzzle that invites the viewer

to discover a concealed sequence of short and long

months. In this print, the sword handle is

inscribed with the date Bunka 7, kanoe (Year of the

Horse, 1810): the short and long months can be

deduced from the waves on the blade.37 The blade

is printed with pigments imitating metal work,

especially the difference between the polished and

the unpolished part of the blade which comes into

view when the sword is taken apart. A small

metal collar (habaki), removed for the evaluation,

lies next to the blade. A piece of cloth (fukusa)

protects the blade from damage during

manipulation. A luxurious brocade bag decorated

with peonies - Shakuyakutei’s emblem - is a bag

for the sword (katanabukuro). The sword, itself,

rests on a plain wooden scabbard (shirasaya). The

characters on the scabbard read: bushû zumi

Sugawara Nagane saku (work by Sugawara Nagane

from Bushû). The signature in the upper right

corner of the surimono, reads ‘Ryûryûkyo

Masayuki ga’ - is accompanied by a square red

seal.38

Concluding remarks

Interpreting the poems and images of surimono

prints is quite a challenge. To show their erudition,

kyôka poets refer to classical poems or historical

events. Puns rely on rules, conventions, contexts,

and circumstances that are hard for the modern

Andon 88 41

� 8. Ryüryükyo Shinsai:

Sword blade. Surimono

depicting objects used for

sword evaluation (kantei).

In the Van Reed Surimono Album,

courtesy of the Iris & B. Gerald

Cantor Center for Visual Arts at

Stanford University, gift of

Maggie P. Van Reed Biddle

(1968.86).

researcher to fathom. Nevertheless many print

collectors and scholars are, like myself, fascinated

by these puzzles and eagerly seek information that

may provide greater insight into the world behind

these works. I have attempted to set another

starting point for those interested in these poetic

and visual treasures and hope to stimulate others

to present their own interpretations.

Acknowledgements

While researching the gokasen and Hokusai’s surimono set, I

greatly benefitted from the assistance of the Andon editorial

team, John Carpenter, Roger Keyes, Hayakawa Monta,

Arisawa Shino, Kobayashi Fumiko and Daan Kok, who

brought valuable material to my attention. I felt privileged to

have been able to use Israel Goldman’s personal library and

the facilities of many institutions. I would like to thank

Watanabe Takayuki and Jakub Zeman, for their remarks on

swords, and the Nagai family, Toyama Terumi and

Wakatsuki Mizuto for their advice and support.

Notes

1. Fujiwara Akiko became a nun in 1026. Following this event

the title mon’in was always conferred on widowed empresses

who shaved their heads.

2. Four of the poetesses of the gokasen are included in

Hyakunin isshu, a poetry anthology dating from c. 1235. Uma

no naishi is included in Chûko sanjûrokkasen (36 Immortal Poets

of the Middle Ages), compiled in the second half of the 13th

century. Basic information about the poetic groups can be

found in, for example, Miner, E., Odagiri, H. and Morrell R.

E., (eds), The Princeton Companion to Classical Japanese

Literature, Princeton 1985: rokkasen p. 294, sanjû rokkasen p.

295. A brief introduction to the gokasen in Japanese can be

found under ‘nashitsubo no gonin’ in: Nihon kokugo daijiten, vol.

10, 2001, p.155. In English: Koop, L. and Inada, S., Japanese

names and how to read them, London 1972, p. 106.

3. This is the oldest existing collection of Japanese poetry,

compiled in the late Nara (645-794) or early Heian (794-1185)

period. The last datable poem in the collection is from 759.

See: Miner, Odagiri, and Morrell, The Princeton Companion to

Classical Japanese Literature, pp. 192-193.

4. More information about kyôka and its history see Keene, D.,

World within Walls. Japanese Literature of the Pre-modern Era,

1600-1867, New York, 1976, pp. 513-524.

5. Detailed information about kyôka clubs and their emblems

is in Uhlenbeck, G.C., (ed.), The Poetic Image; The Fine Art of

Surimono, Leiden 1987, pp. 8-16.

6. For the relationship between kokugaku and the world of

kyôka surimono see Carpenter, J.T., ‘Inventing New

Iconographies; Historicist and Nativist Motives in Late-Edo

Surimono’, in: idem (ed.), Reading Surimono, pp. 72-83. More

details about kokugaku can be found in Nosco, P., Remembering

Paradise: Nativism and Nostalgia in Eighteenth-Century Japan.

Cambridge, Mass. 1990 and Harootunian, H.D., Things Seen

and Unseen: Discourse and Ideology in Tokugawa Nativism,

Chicago 1988.

7. See Keene, World within Walls, pp. 521-522.

8. The Meiji Restoration (1868) is generally seen as the

beginning of the ‘modern’ period of Japanese history.

9. Onoe, H., Nashitsubo no gokasen, Tokyo 1902.

Andon 88 42

10. Onoe, H., Nashitsubo no gokasen, p. 217.

11. Fujita, T., ‘Nashitsubo no gonin to gokasen’, in:

Kôkokubungaku, vol. 3, 1941, pp. 129-139.

12. The treatise is believed to have been written by Fujiwara

Mototoshi (1055-1142). Two volumes, published in 1645, are

available on the internet site of Waseda University.

13. Fujita, T.,‘Nashitsubo no gonin to gokasen’, p. 138.

14. For an overview of the life of the nobility in the Heian

period see Morris, I., The World of the Shining Prince,

Harmondsworth 1969, pp. 223 and 250.

15. For more information about the fans used at the court see

Hutt, J. and Alexander, H., Ôgi, A History of the Japanese Fan,

London 1992.

16. Keyes, R., The Art of Surimono: Privately published Japanese

Woodblock Prints and Books in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin,

vol. I, London 1985, p. 230.

17. Hokusai used a similar image of a court lady

(representing a Kyoto beauty) in the surimono depicting six

beauties playing the uta-garuta game published c.1823. See

Sotheby’s Catalogue of Japanese Prints and Illustrated books,

London 1991, p. 10, plate 11.

18. A surimono by Totoya Hokkei depicting the empress Jôtô

mon’in was published in the 1820s. See plate 113 in Rappard-

Boon, Charlotte van, and Bruschke-Johnson, Lee, Surimono –

Poetry & Image in Japanese Prints, Leiden 2000, p. 182.

19. All five prints in this series can be found in the MFA

database

(http://www.mfa.org/collections/search_art.asp?coll_keywo

rds=Nashitsubo+Gokasen). Uma no Naishi was substituted

for Sei Shônagon.

20. Baird, M., Symbols of Japan, Thematic Motifs in Art and

Design, New York 2001, p. 60.

21. Volker, T., The Animal in Far Eastern Art, Leiden 1950, p.

98.

22. Translations by R. Keyes, see Keyes, The Art of Surimono,

vol. I, cat. no. 202.

23. Translated by P. Morse, see Morse, P., Hokusai: One

Hundred Poets, New York 1989, p. 125.

24. Translations by R. Keyes, see Keyes, The Art of Surimono,

vol. I, cat. no. 203. The translations of the poems that follow

are my own.

25. Translation by J. Mostow, see Mostow, J.S., Pictures of the

Heart, The Hyakunin Isshu in Word and Image, Honolulu 1996,

p. 322.

26. Perhaps on the basis of this poem and the words kasane

Saohime, this surimono was named as Princess Kasane in:

Polster E., and Marks A.H., Surimono: Prints by Elbow,

Washington 1980, p. 265.

27. Morse, Hokusai: One Hundred Poets, p. 126. Translated by

P. Morse.

28. See Morris, I., The Pillow Book of Sei Shônagon, New York

1991, p. 149.

29. Ocassionally women used to rouge the lower lip after

lightly painting it with India ink so that it produced an

iridescent greenish sheen.

30. For the iconography of the Genji episode in the surimono

see Murase, M., Iconography of the Tale of Genji (Genji

monogatari ekotoba), New York & Tokyo 1983, p. 58. In

Kitagawa Utamaro’s series Meifu eika kachô fûgetsu Murasaki

Shikibu is shown as a courtesan with a birdcage.

31. This print was chosen as the cover image for the DVD

version of Kazuhiko Fukuda’s collection of Hokusai prints

which was launched in 2008. Despite what the cover

suggests, the footage shows just four of the five prints and

only partially transcribed poems. It also lacks any

information about the surimono set or the poetic group.

Katsushika Hokusai, Enshoku, ukiyoe. Tokyo 2008, DVD.

32. Essays about some extraordinary men of the kyôka world

can be found in the Proceedings of the First International

Symposium on Surimono, held in Kokusai Bunka Kaikan

Tokyo, 23rd and 24th July 1977. This publication appeared in

1979. Recommended essays are Suzuki, J., ‘Interpretation and

Appreciation of the Edo Kyôka Surimono’ and S.C. Ward, ‘The

Extraordinary Sakuragawa Jihinari’. See also Tsuda, M., ‘The

Daimyo as a Kabuki Fan and a Kyôka Poet – surimono

commissioned by Edo no Hananari’ in: Carpenter, Reading

Surimono, pp. 46-53.

Andon 88 43

33. More details about Shakuyakutei and his publications can

be found in Nihon koten bungaku daijiten, vol. 4, Tokyo, 1984,

p. 257, under the entry Shakuyakutei Nagane; Kanô, K., (ed.),

Kyôka jinmei jisho, Tokyo, 1928, p. 160, also under

Shakuyakutei Nagane, and Suga, C., Kinsei kyôka shi, Tokyo,

1936, pp. 350-356.

34. According to the lineage of Hon’ami family, Shakuyakutei

was from a different branch of the family, although closely

related to Kôetsu. Shakuyakutei’s original family name was

Kôen and he was from the fourth generation of the Kôzan

branch. Kôzan was the fifth son of Kôshitsu who was tenth

generation after Myôhon, the founder of the family. The

Kôzan branch was based in Kaga province and served the

Maeda clan. For more information about the Hon’ami family

see Arai Hakuseki, The Sword Book in Honchô Gunkikô and the

Book of samé, Kô hi sei gi of Inaba Tsurio (translated by Joly, H.L.

and Inada, H.), London 1962 or a manuscript of the lecture

given by Watanabe Takayuki, Gozonjidesuka, konna hanashi -

Bushô to katana, 2004 (lecture series Sôchôryokuin kôza).

35. The title of the tanzaku reads “Katana ni yoseru iwai:”, and

the poem which celebrates the sword as mighty and strong as

“a sudden shower of rain that drives even the most powerful

devils away” reads: “Osamarishi miyo ha katana no kurokaze ni

menuki no oni no komoru bakari zo” and is signed ‘Nagane’.

36. Shakuyakutei Nagane, Shakuyakutei bunshû, 1844. A

complete digital version of this publication is available on the

internet pages of Waseda University.

37. The large and small ripples are the long and short

months: S-L-S-L-L-S-L-L-S-L-S-L of the 1810. The author

expresses her gratitude to the editor of Andon who pointed

this out to her.

38. Masayuki was Shinsai’s given name. Ryûkyûkyo was the

gô given him by his teacher Tawaraya Sôri (fl. c. 1764-80) in

1800. See: Roberts, L.P., A Dictionary of Japanese Artists,

Weatherhill, Tokyo & New York, 1976, p. 149.

Andon 88 44