- Museum number
- 1915,0823,0.67.2
- Title
- Object: Momochidori kyoka awase 百千鳥狂歌合 (Myriad Birds: A Kyoka Competition)
- Description
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Illustrated book. Vol. 2 of two volumes. Folding album, colour woodblock print. Poetry contest on theme of birds. Covers: Original, yellow, ?stencil-printed with darker yellow peonies. Title slips: Original, printed on yellow slips pasted in top left corner of covers. Contents: (vol. 1) 10 leaves: 1 double-page preface, 8 double-page illustrations of birds and flowers, 1 double page of advertisement and publisher's colophon; (vol. 2) 9 leaves: 1 double-page preface, 7 double-page illustrations of birds and flowers, 1 double page of advertisement and publisher's colophon (same as vol 1). Illustrations and makes of poets (Vol 1, each page described right to left): 1. Quail (uzura), Tsuburi Hikaru. Skylark (hibari), Zeniya Kinrachi; 2. Penduline tit (yamagara), Ki no Sadamaru. Bush warbler (uguisu), Sunawachi Yuyu; 3. Barn swallow (tsubame), Sakezuki no Komendo. Male pheasant (kiji), Kiri Hitoha; 4. Yellow-billed grosbeak (mamemawashi), Akera Kanko. Male white-backed pecker (kitsutsuki), Shino no Tamawaku; 5. Long-tailed tit (enaga), Magaki no Kikumaru. Japanese white-eye (mejiro), Tawara Funazumi; 6. Copper pheasant (yamadori), Monaka no Tsukimaro. White wagtail (sekirei), Mantokusai; 7. Winter wren (misosazai), Karagoromo Kisshu. Snipe (shigi), Senkyaku Banrai; 8. Domestic fowl (niwatori), Yadoya no Meshimori. Meadow bunting (hojiro), Ashibe Tazumaru. (Vol 2): 9. Scops owl (mimizuku), Ichi no Nakazumi. Bullfinch (uso), Sasaha no Suzunari; 10. Cormorant (u), Torai Sanna. Egret (sagi), Shikatsube no Magao; 11. Great tit (shijukara), Takara no Atsumaru. Japanese robin (komadori), Fumoto no Chikamichi; 12. Tree sparrow (murasuzume), Aya no Orinushi. Rock dove (hato), Sono no Kocho; 13. Jay (kashidori), Oya no Urazumi. Boreal owl (fukuro), Shingoken Birin; 14. Mallard (kamo), Honen Yukimaru. Common kingfisher (kawasemi), Sandara Boshi; 15. Goshawk (taka), Akamatsu Kinkei. Thick-billed shrike (mozu), Hyakkisai. With gauffrage. Inscribed, signed and sealed.
- Producer name
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Print artist: Kitagawa Utamaro 喜多川歌麿
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Published by: Tsutaya Juzaburo 蔦屋重三郎
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Written by: Kikira Kinkei (奇々羅金鶏) (complier; vols 1&2, prefaces; vol. 2, kyoka 15)
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Written by: Soyoan (桑楊庵) (vol. 1, kyoka 1)
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Written by: Ki no Sadamaru 紀定丸 (vol. 1, kyoka 2)
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Written by: Akera Kanko 朱楽菅江 (vol. 1, kyoka 4)
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Written by: Karagoromo Kisshu (唐衣橘州) (vol. 1, kyoka 7)
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Written by: Ishikawa Masamochi 石川雅望 (vol. 1, kyoka 8)
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Written by: Ashibe no Tazumaru (芦辺田鶴丸) (vol. 1, kyoka 8)
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Written by: Torai Sanna (唐来三和) (vol. 2, kyoka 10)
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Written by: Shikatsube no Magao (鹿都部真顔) (vol. 2, kyoka 10)
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Written by: Takara no Atsumaru 宝野敦丸 (vol. 2, kyoka 11)
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Written by: Honen Yukimaro 豊年雪麿 (vol. 2, kyoka 14)
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Written by: Sandara Boshi (三陀羅法師) (vol. 2, kyoka 14)
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Written by: Hyakkisai Morikado 百喜斎森角 (vol. 2, kyoka 15)
- Production date
- 1790 (ca.)
- Dimensions
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Height: 25.50 centimetres
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Width: 18.90 centimetres
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- Curator's comments
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Following on from Utamaro's meticulous observations of insects (1788, case 10) and shells (1789, left), these two volumes contain fifteen pages of birds to illustrate a competition between 'crazy verse' (kyoka) poets. (Label copy, TTC, 1999.)
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Asano and Clark 1995
Compiled by Akamatsu (Kikira) Kinkei. As ‘Ehon mushi erabi’ (cat. no. 463) is with insects, this is a poetry contest on the theme of birds. Each double-page illustration contains two ‘kyoka’ and there are fifteen illustrations, making a total of thirty ‘kyoka’. As with ‘Mushi erabi’, these are all playful love poems. No copies are known with a date of publication. As indicated by the advertisement in the colophon to ‘Ehon mushi erabi’, in about 1787 the publication of a series of illustrated ‘kyoka’ anthologies was envisaged, to be produced by Yadoya no Meshimori and Utamaro on the theme of birds (cho), animals (ju) and fish (gyo). For whatever reason, this project did not proceed as planned and ended with just the work on birds being published in the present form, compiled by Kinkei. The two volumes each have a different preface by Kinkei, but have the same colophon. This lack of uniformity suggests a complex history to the publication of the book. On the final double page there are advertisements for the following works: the present ‘Momo chidori kyoka-awase, Ebisu-buri tansei cho, Ehon fukuju-so’, and ‘Fugen-zo’. ‘Fugen-zo’ is an illustrated ‘kyoka’ anthology with a preface dated third month, 1790 (cat. no. 474): ‘Ehon fukuju-so’ is an illustrated book by Kitao Shigemasa published in spring, 1791. Combining this information with other evidence provided by book advertisements at the back of ‘Yoshiwara saiken’ guides, we can suggest that ‘Momo chidori’ was published some time during 1790, or in the spring of 1791 at the latest. (See also the commentary in ‘Hizo ukiyo-e taikan’. vol. 3, 1988, nos. 265-274.)
As in the case of ‘Shiohi no tsuto’ and other similar albums, the order of the illustrations of birds and flowers differs from copy to copy. Also there is a variant edition with title slips having just the printed titles ‘Momo chidori, zempen’, and ‘Momo chidori, kohen’ (cat. no. 476).
Literature:
Otaka, Sennosuke 尾高鮮之助, "Utamaro no kibyoshi ko, 1-3"『歌麿の黄表紙考（一）~（三）』,‘Mizue’「みづゑ」, 275-277, 1928, 51-55.
Ryerson 1931:223.
‘Kokusho somokuroku’「国書総目録」, vol. 7, Iwanami Shoten, Tokyo, 1963-72, pl. 720.
Meech-Pakarik & Kenney 1981.
Yoshida, Susugu 吉田漱, et al. ‘Ukiyo-e hakka vol. 3: Utamaro.’「浮世絵八華 歌麿」, Tokyo, Heibonsha, 1984.
Hillier, Jack, ‘The Art of the Japanese Book’, Sotheby’s Publication, London, 1987, 422-3.
Smith, Lawrence, ‘Ukiyoe: Images of Unknown Japan’, BMP, London, 1988, book no. 24.
‘Hizo Ukiyo-e taikan’「秘蔵浮世絵大観」, gen. ed. Narazaki, Muneshige, vol. 3, Kodansha, Tokyo, 1987-90, 265-274.
‘Edo Meibutsu Gacho Zenshu’「江戸名物画帖全集」, vol. 9, 102-105, 131-133, 181-182.
Other copies:
The Art Institute of Chicago.
Chiba City Museum of Art 千葉市美術館.
The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge [cat. no. 476].
Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge (Mass.).
The Japan ‘Ukiyoe’ Museum 日本浮世絵博物館, Matsumoto.
Kochi Pref. Library 高知県立図書館.
Nagoya Hoso 名古屋放送.
Nishio Municipal Library 西尾市立図書館.
The New York Public Library.
Robert Ravicz Collection.
Werner Schindler Collection.
Toyo Bunko 東洋文庫, Tokyo.
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (Vol. 2 only).
[Main text translated in Japanese below / 以下上記本文日本語訳]
浅野／クラーク 1995
赤松金鶏（奇々羅金鶏）の撰。『画本虫撰』に倣い、鳥を詠題にした狂歌合で、1図に2首、15図で全30首を載せる。『虫撰』同様、すべて恋の戯れ歌となっている。
刊年の記載された伝品は報告されていない。『画本虫撰』の刊記部分の広告にもあるとおり、鳥・獣・魚を主題にした絵入狂歌本は、飯盛・歌麿のコンビで天明7年（1787）頃から企画されていたらしい。それが何らかの事情でうまくいかず、結局鳥の部に当たるものが、金鶏撰の本書の形で刊行されたものと推察される。前篇後篇のそれぞれに金鶏の別の序が付いたり、同一の刊記が両篇に付いたりで、造本も何やら統一性を欠くのも複雑な出版経緯を想像させる。
最終丁に、この「百千鳥狂歌合」と「夷曲丹青帖」「絵本福寿艸」「普賢像」の広告が載っている。『普賢像』は寛政2年3月の序を持つ絵入狂歌本（第474図）、『絵本福寿草』は寛政3年春刊、北尾重政画の絵本である。吉原細見の巻末広告等を考え合わせると、本書は寛政2年中に（遅くとも同3年春）刊行されたものと思われる。このことについては大観3の解説を参照されたい。『潮干のつと』などと同様、諸本によって花鳥図の順序が異なる。また、本書の別本には題簽が「百千鳥 前編」「百千鳥 後編」となっているものもある（第476図）。
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Smith 1988
This is arguably the most stylish of all Utamaro's books, and the one in which he vindicated his implied claims to be superior to the contemporary artists of the official Kano School, both in delicacy of execution and originality of design. Like all the great albums published by Tsutaya, this is a 'kyoka' (comic verse) book, but the power of the illustrations and printing far outweigh the literary content.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1894
- Acquisition notes
- Transferred from Department of Oriental Manuscripts (August 1915).
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- 1915,0823,0.67.2
- Additional IDs
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Japanese Illustrated Book number: JIB.141
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Miscellaneous number: 1894,0214
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Other BM number: 16113.d.12 (previous British Library shelfmark)
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Other BM number: OR.59.B.3 (previous British Library shelfmark)
