- Museum number
- 1937,0710,0.138
- Title
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Object: Sumidagawa Sekiya no sato 隅田川関屋ノ里 (Sekiya Village on the Sumida River)
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Series: Fugaku sanjurokkei 冨嶽三十六景 (Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji)
- Description
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Colour woodblock oban print. Three samurai horsemen galloping along dyke through empty stretch of rice-fields or marsh; early morning mist in air; red Mt Fuji on horizon; noticeboard on right. 1 of 2 impressions. Inscribed and signed.
- Production date
- 1832 (probably 1832 (Keyes and Morse 2015))
- Dimensions
-
Height: 25.60 centimetres
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Width: 37.60 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
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- Curator's comments
-
Clark 2001
Three samurai horsemen, perhaps official messengers ('haya-uma'), gallop along a dyke that winds through an empty stretch of rice-fields or marsh. The early morning mist has not yet cleared and a solitary Mt Fuji glows red on the horizon, catching the rays of the rising sun (compare cat. 53). On the right is a noticeboard for official proclamations, suggesting this is a fairly well-frequented highway. Sekiya villages was the name given to the area along the banks of the Sumida River beyond the northern outskirts of Edo, between Terajima village and Senju-gawara (Hamada Giichiro, 'Edo bungaku chimei jiten', Tokyo, Tokyo-do,1973, s.v. 'Sekiya no sato').
By repeating the forms of the horses and riders with their flapping jackets and flying tails, but varying the colours, Hokusai causes the eye to jump backwards and forwards between them, stimulating the sensation of speed. One can almost hear the sound of hooves echoing across the empty landscape. The green block behind the reeds on the horizon appears to have been damaged just to the right of the title cartouche.
References:
'Ukiyo-e taikei, vol. 13: Fugaku sanju-rokkei', Tokyo, Shueisha, 1975 (text by Kobayashi Tadashi), no. 32.
'Meihin soroimono ukiyo-e, vol. 8: Hokusai I', Tokyo, Gyosei, 1991 (text by Nagata Seiji), no. 13.
Julia White, 'et al.', 'Hokusai and Hiroshige: Great Japanese Prints from the James A. Michener Collection, Honolulu Academy of Arts', Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, 1998 (commentaries by Yoko Woodson), no. 37.
Literature:
Smith, Lawrence. 'Twelve Views of Mount Fuji'. London, Trustees of the British Museum, 1981, [no. 5].
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Clark 2017
Three samurai horsemen, perhaps official messengers, race along the dykes through empty fields. The repeating forms of the horsemen, with their wind-windblown robes, accentuate their speed. The notice boards on the right are for official proclamations, so this is a well-frequented highway. Early morning mists recede, but Mt Fuji is still catching the rays of the rising sun. Sekiya was a rural area on the north bank of the Sumida river between the Ayase river and Senju.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2001, 11 May-29 Jul, BM Japanese Galleries, '100 Views of Mount Fuji'
2017 8 July - 13 Aug, London, BM, G35, Hokusai: Beyond the Great Wave
2017 6 Oct - 19 Nov, Osaka, Abeno Harukas Art Museum
2022 16 Apr-12 Jun, Tokyo, Suntory Museum of Art, Hokusai from the British Museum
- Acquisition date
- 1937
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- 1937,0710,0.138
