- Museum number
- 1982,0701,0.17
- Description
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Album of 9 fan paintings:
Fan 1: Traveller viewing distant landscape. Signed and sealed.
Fan 2: Courtesan under snow-covered umbrella. With poem. Signed, sealed and inscribed.
Fan 3: Six Immortals of Poetry. With poem. Signed, sealed and inscribed.
Fan 4: Geisha seated on balcony overlooking Sumida River. Signed, sealed and inscribed.
Fan 5: Ferry boat on Sumida River. With poem. Signed, sealed and inscribed.
Fan 6: Sea bream and squid. Signed and sealed.
Fan 7: Courtesan with young attendant. With poem. Inscribed, signed and sealed.
Fan 8: Blind man feeling elephant. Signed and sealed.
Fan 9: Zen priest's flying whisk. With poem. Signed and inscribed.
Ink and colour on mica-covered paper.
- Production date
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1843 (fan 1)
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1804-1818 (fans c.2; 7)
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1818-1830 (fan 3)
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1804-1823 (fan 4)
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1830-1854 (fan 5)
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1804-1853 (fan 6)
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1868-1889 (fan 8)
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1789-1815 (fan 9)
- Dimensions
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Height: 31.50 centimetres (approx; covers)
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Height: 14.20 centimetres (fan 1)
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Height: 17.10 centimetres (fan 2)
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Height: 16.50 centimetres (fan 3)
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Height: 16.30 centimetres (fan 4)
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Height: 13.50 centimetres (fan 5)
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Height: 17.50 centimetres (fan 6)
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Height: 16.90 centimetres (fan 7)
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Height: 12.10 centimetres (fan 8)
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Height: 17.30 centimetres (fan 9)
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Width: 54.30 centimetres (approx; covers)
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Width: 44.60 centimetres (fan 1)
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Width: 46.50 centimetres (fan 2)
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Width: 49.50 centimetres (fan 3)
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Width: 45.60 centimetres (fan 4)
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Width: 46.70 centimetres (fan 5)
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Width: 48.60 centimetres (fan 6)
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Width: 44.50 centimetres (fan 7)
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Width: 48.40 centimetres (fan 8)
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Width: 47.50 centimetres (fan 9)
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- Curator's comments
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See Jack Hillier, 'The Harari Collection of Japanese Paintings and Drawings', vol. 2 (Lund Humphries, 1970), nos. 144, 157, 160, 161, 175 (fans 1, 2, 3, 6, 7) and vol. 3 (Lund Humphries, 1973), no. 217 (fan 8).
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ADD 702(9): The Zen flywhisk is accompanied by a suggestive verse that resembles a Zen philosophical riddle (koan), but mixes both sacred and profane worlds descibing in double-entendres a visit to the brothel quarter: How chic for the rebirth (revisit)/Of a Man of Fashion-/Last night's sweetmeats/Licked in the ferryboat.
(Label copy, TTC 1997)
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Clark 1992, no. 102 [fan 1]
It has been suggested that the aged traveller, whose rapt expression commands our attention despite the modest size of the painting, may be the itinerant monk-poet Saigyo (1118-80). The distant landscape with a shrine gateway amid hills has not, however, been identified. His tattered black monk's robes are crisply executed in deep, rich black, contrasting with the pale wash landscape - the two elements once again perfectly balanced about the central axis. Hokusai uses a miniature version of his stylised picture seal showing Mt Fuji above clouds, and it seems to have been an occasional practice for smaller versions of an artist's well-known seals to be cut especially for fans and small paintings.
Literature:
Hillier, Jack, 'The Harari Collection of Japanese Paintings and Prints'. Vol. 2, London, Lund Humphries, 1970, no. 144.
Clark, Timothy. "Paintings by Hokusai in the British Museum", 'Orientations'. Vol. 21, no. 8 (Aug. 1990), 37-44, fig. 9.
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Clark 1992 , no. 117 [fan 2]
In this witty and eccentric composition just the head of a parading courtesan is shown in one corner of the fan, all but hidden by the large snow-covered umbrella held by a servant over her head, the shape of the umbrella echoing the curve of the fan paper. The 'kyoka' poem by Ikku likens her struggle through the snow to being weighed down by debt:
Looking like a debt
Of a hundred 'kan'
In Yoshiwara
A scene at the basket-hat teashop
In the snow.
The proverb 'Hyakkan no kata ni kasa ikkan' ('Only a hat as surety for 100 'kan' (1 'kan' was a string of 1,000 copper coins)), referring to a loan in which the risk is great for only a paltry reward, is punned with 'amigasa chaya' ('basket-hat teashop'), the establishments at the entrance to Yoshiwara where patrons who wished to enter the quarter incognito could cover their heads with a deep woven basket-hat.
Juppensha Ikku (1765-1831) was an author of comic novels and amateur painter best known for 'Dochu hizakurige' ('Shanks's Mare') and its various sequels, published from 1802 onwards for most of the rest of his life. The form of Hokuba's signature suggests a relatively early date for the fan in that painter's career, probably during the Bunka era (1804-18).
Literature:
Hillier, Jack, 'The Harari Collection of Japanese Paintings and Prints'. Vol. 2, London, Lund Humphries, 1970, no. 160.
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Clark 1992, no. 109 [fan 3]
The poet Ki no Tsurayuki's preface to the 'Kokin waka shu' Imperial anthology of the early tenth century begins with the immortal lines about warblers chirping and frogs croaking: '. . . every living creature has its song' ('iki to shi ikeru mono izure ka uta o yomazarikeri'). Rokujuen's cheeky poem suggests that there were other 'noises' to be heard:
The sound of luminaries
At a poetry gathering
Knocking their heads together
Could be heard
In the preface to the 'Kokinshu'.
Hokuba's genial painting shows the Six Immortals of Poetry ('Rokkasen'): from left to right, Ariwara no Narihira, Funya no Yasuhide, Kisen Hoshi, Otomo no Kuronushi, Ono no Komachi, Sojo Henjo, sitting facing away from us with their heads together in a poetic huddle. The Six Immortals were first so named in the 'Kokinshu' preface, but the reference to heads knocking together may reflect the fact that Tsurayuki was less than generous in his criticisms of each.
Rokujuen (Ishikawa Masamochi, 1753-1830) was one of the leading 'kyoka' poets of his generation, noted for his wide-ranging scholarship in both Japanese and Chinese matters. Here the inscription was written by a stand-in who has imitated well the mannerisms of his calligraphy, one Baita, who is probably Rokujuen's pupil Baitaro.
Literature:
Hillier, Jack, 'The Harari Collection of Japanese Paintings and Prints'. Vol. 2, London, Lund Humphries, 1970, no. 157.
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Clark 1992, no. 146 [fan 4]
Though rubbed and soiled from heavy use, the basic composition of this fan painting can, nevertheless, be made out: a geisha seated on a balcony toys with a hairpin as she looks out over the moonlit Sumida River (with probably Ryogoku Bridge in the distance). The 'kyoka' poem inscribed by Ota Nampo (1749-1823) suggests that she has left a drinking party to come and take the air and settle confused, wine-fuelled emotions:
Sobering up,
Her feelings become clear
On the moonlit balcony,
As the wind flutters
Her thin summer robe.
Scenes of 'taking the cool evening air' ('yu-suzumi') near the river were popular and appropriate subjects for summer fans. Here the curve of Ryogoku Bridge effectively echoes the shape of the paper.
Literature:
Hillier, Jack, 'The Harari Collection of Japanese Paintings and Prints'. Vol. 1, London, Lund Humphries, 1970, no. 88.
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Clark 1992 , no. 134 [fan 5]
A ferry boat crosses the Sumida River in countryside on the northern fringes of Edo, with a view of Mt Tsukuba in the distance. The 'kyoka' poem above by one Reido expresses the admiration of passengers for the fine view, and plays on the phrase 'watari ni fune' which means both 'a boat for crossing' and a 'stroke of luck' (in a more proverbial sense):
Setting out in a boat
To cross the Sumida River,
What good fortune -
As we reached the bank
Mt Tsukuba came into view.
From his earliest landscape prints of the 1830s Hiroshige designed dozens of series celebrating well-known beauty spots in the city of Edo, culminating in the great late series 'Meisho Edo hyakkei' ('One Hundred Famous Places in Edo') of 1856-8. The form of Hiroshige's signature changed little during his later career, and ascertaining the identity and dates of 'Reido' would permit a more exact dating of the painting.
Literature:
Hillier, Jack, 'The Harari Collection of Japanese Paintings and Prints'. Vol. 2, London, Lund Humphries, 1970, no. 178.
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Clark 1992, no. 130 [fan 6]
Red sea bream ('tai') and squid ('ika') are both auspicious fish eaten particularly at the New Year holiday. Here they are laid out naturalistically in the manner of a still-life 'surimono' print.
Katsushika Hokuga was one of the many - almost 200, according to Nagata Seiji ('Kobijutsu', 82-4 (1987)) - minor pupils and later followers of Hokusai, active in the first half of the nineteenth century. A directory published in Edo in 1842 gives his family name as Yamadera Myonosuke, 'na' Nobuyuki, 'go' Karyosai, and says that he lived in Ushigome Takubo. He is thought to have first studied with the Ukiyo-e artist Tomikawa Fusanobu, adopting the name Ginsetsu II. His use of the 'go' Karyosai is said to date from c. 1824. He should not be confused with the other, more famous pupil of Hokusai called Hokuga (written, with the 'ga' character meaning 'goose'), who later used the name Hotei Gosei and was a prolific painter of beautiful women in a highly individual, mannered style.
Literature:
Hillier, Jack, 'The Harari Collection of Japanese Paintings and Prints'. Vol. 2, London, Lund Humphries, 1970, no. 175.
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Clark 1992, no. 116 [fan 7]
The painting by Hokuba in quick, fluid ink and colour shows a parading courtesan seen from behind with her young 'kamuro' attendant facing back towards us. A cuckoo sings out as it flies across the top right-hand corner of the fan, suggesting that the season is midsummer.
The main part of the fan, however, is given over to an inscription by the courtesan Somenosuke, the name used by successive generations of high-ranking women in the prestigious Matsubaya house of pleasure in Yoshiwara. High-ranking courtesans were expected to perfect a witty turn of phrase and have elegant flowing handwriting, both of which Somenosuke demonstrates in this inscription. Such a fan would be highly prized by a man of fashion who wished to demonstrate to the world that he was intimate with so grand a lady. The opening preamble containing poignant reflections upon the uncertain life of a prostitute is then deflated by the comic 'senryu' poem which follows, in which the word 'matsuri' in the proverbial phrase 'ato no matsuri' ('the festival that follows') has the secondary meaning of sexual intercourse:
If in this world there were no partings at dawn, it would not be so hard to bear. No matter how uncertain this life of a prostitute . . .
Rather than the man
Who gets up and goes,
The fun and games that follow!
Literature:
Hillier, Jack, 'The Harari Collection of Japanese Paintings and Prints'. Vol. 2, London, Lund Humphries, 1970, no. 161.
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Clark 1992, no. 177 [fan 8]
Henry Joly ('Legend in Japanese Art', London, John Lane, 1908, p. 25) gives a concise explanation of the subject of this painting:
Blind men feeling an elephant is a common subject, and there is a story that once an Indian elephant having been brought to Japan, a party of blind people went to feel it, and could not agree in their opinions of the nature of the monster, finding it like a dagger, a snake, the trunk of a tree as they touched the tusks, the trunk or the legs of the animal. And a moral is deduced therefrom, not to judge of anything on the impression caused by the parts only, instead of the whole.
The placing of the tiny blind man as if he were lost in the centre of the composition cleverly suggests his disorientation, with the massive elephant pushed over to one side and half cut off by the edge of the fan paper. The combination of traditional Kano-style ink and wash painting techniques with newer Western-derived elements, such as the foreshortened stance of the beast and the sense of modelling of his leathery skin, reflects the mixed influences to which painters such as Eitaku working in the early Meiji era were subject.
Literature:
Hillier, Jack, 'The Harari Collection of Japanese Paintings and Prints'. Vol. 3, London, Lund Humphries, 1970, no. 217.
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Clark 1992, no. 87 [fan 9]
A 'hossu' is a ceremonial fly whisk used by Zen priests and, more particularly in the context of this painting, is an attribute of Daruma (Bodhidharma), founder of the Zen sect. 'Daruma' was a slang word for 'prostitute' in the Edo period (no. 93), which might explain the humorous mixing of the sacred and profane worlds in the inscription on this fan, phrased as if it were a Zen 'koan' (philosophical riddle):
How chic for the rebirth/revisit of a Man of Fashion -
Last night's sweetmeats licked in the ferry.
This is undoubtedly a parody of some Zen proverb well known at the time, but it has not been possible to discover what. The word 'sairai', as well as being the Buddhist term for rebirth, could also mean a second visit to a courtesan by a favoured customer; and the ferry is more specifically a 'chokibune' ('boar's tusk' boat), which carried customers along the Sumida River to and from the Yoshiwara pleasure quarter.
Literature:
Hillier, Jack, 'The Harari Collection of Japanese Paintings and Prints'. Vol. 1, London, Lund Humphries, 1970, no. 70.
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Asahi 1996, no. 62-1 [fan 1]
目立たない大きさの画面ながら、年老いた旅人の忘我の表情が目を引く。彼は、旅の僧西行（1118－80）と考えられてきた。ただし、岡の真中に神社の鳥居があるという遠景がどこのものかは明らかでない。旅人のぼろぼろの黒衣は豊かな漆黒で歯切れよく仕上げられ、淡彩の遠景と対照的であり、この二要素が中央軸の左右で完璧に調和している。
用印は、雲形の富士を表す堂々たる印を縮小したもの。画家のよく知られた印を縮小し小さな印を作るのは、扇面や小画面などのために時として行われたらしい。
（竹内美砂子（名古屋市博物館））
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Asahi 1996, no. 62-2 [fan 2]
道行く遊女の頭だけが扇面の一角に覗くという、機知に富み意表を突く構図である。頭は従者が翳す大傘に半ば隠され、傘に雪が積もった形が扇面の曲線に呼応している。一九による狂歌は、雪に埋もれた彼女の苦闘を借金苦になぞらえるもので、抵当が少なく危険のみ大きい貸しを例えた「百貫のかたにに笠一蓋」という諺が、吉原入口の編笠茶屋との地口となっている。身を隠したい客は、この茶屋で深い編笠をかぶることができたのである。
十返舎一九（1765－1831）は、享和2年（1802）以降ほぼ生涯にわたって出版された「道中膝栗毛」及びその続編でよく知られた滑稽本作家で、素人画家でもあった。扇面の制作時期は、北馬の落款の字体からおそらく文化年間、彼の比較的初期と考えられる。
（竹内美砂子（名古屋市博物館））
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Asahi 1996, no. 62-3 [fan 3]
勅撰和歌集『古今和歌集』（10世紀初頭成立）の紀貫之による仮名序に、「花になく鶯、水にすむ蛙の声を聞けば、生きとし生けるもの、いずれか歌をよまざりける」とある。六樹園の生意気な和歌賛は、これとは別の「騒音」が聞こえるというもの。
一方北渓は、優しく六歌仙を描いている。左から在原業平、文屋康秀、喜撰法師、大伴黒主、小野小町、僧正遍昭が我々から離れて座り、頭を寄せあって和歌について談義している。六歌仙は古今集序文で名付けられたものであるが、頭を打ち合うという賛の言い回しは、貫之の各歌仙評が決して寛大ではなかったことを連想させる。
六樹園（石川雅望、1753－1830）は、当時の代表的な狂歌師で和漢に通じた幅広い学識によって知られる。ここでは、梅多なる人物（六樹園の孫の中村屋梅太郎 狂名、梅多楼善福）が、代筆として六樹園の筆跡をまねして着賛している。
（竹内美砂子（名古屋市博物館））
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Asahi 1996, no. 62-4 [fan 4]
度重なる使用により画面は荒れて汚れているが、基本的構図は判別できる。縁に出た芸者が笄をもてあそびつつ月下の隅田川を眺めている。遠くに見えるのは両国橋であろう。大田南畝（1749－1823）が記す狂歌によれば、彼女は宴席を抜け出し、酔心地を鎮めるため風を入れにきたところである。川のほとりでの夕涼みは、夏扇の格好の題材であった。ここでは、弧を描く両国橋が扇紙の形によく呼応している。
（竹内美砂子（名古屋市博物館））
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Asahi 1996, no. 62-5 [fan 5]
江戸北端の郊外を流れる隅田川を、渡し舟が横切っている。彼方には筑波山が望まれる。齢堂なる人が記した狂歌は、勝景を誉めると同時に「渡りに舟」という諺を掛けている。
1830年代の初期の風景版画以来広重は、江戸市中の景勝地を題材に数十の続き物を制作し、それらは後に「名所江戸百景」（1856－58）に結実した。広重の落款の書体は晩年期ほとんど変化せず、「齢堂」を特定し生没年がわかれば、本作品の制作時期をより正確に求められよう。
（竹内美砂子（名古屋市博物館））
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Asahi 1996, no. 62-6 [fan 6]
笠子と烏賊が、静物画の摺物のように自然な恰好で横たえられている。
葛飾北斎はおよそ200人もいた（永田生慈『古美術』82－84号 1987年）北斎の群小な弟子や追随者の一人で、19世紀の前半に活躍した。天保13年（1842）江戸で出版された名寄類によれば、本妙山寺妙之助、名信之、号花菱斎、牛込田窪に住む。はじめ富川房信に学び、二代吟雪を名乗るとされる。花菱号の使用は文政7年（1824）頃以降とされる。より有名な北斎門人でのち抱亭五清と称し個性的な美人を数多く描いた北鵞とは区別すべきである。
（竹内美砂子（名古屋市博物館））
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Asahi 1996, no. 62-7 [fan 7]
歩み行く遊女の後姿とこちら向きの付き添いの禿を、墨画淡彩でさらりと描く。扇面の右上を横切る郭公の一声が、季節の盛夏であることを告げている。
ただし画面の大半は、遊女染之助による賛で占められている。染之助は、吉原の松葉屋の高位の遊女に受け継がれた名前である。高位の遊女は、巧みな言い回しや優美な書をこなさなければならず、その両方を染之助はここで披露している。かほど優れた女性と親しいことを世間に吹聴したい伊達男にとって、遊女の定めなき人生を厳しく炙り出す内容の前置きに、男女の関係という意味もある「後の祭り」をひっかけた滑稽な川柳が続くこのような扇は、まさに自慢の種であったろう。
（竹内美砂子（名古屋市博物館））
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Asahi 1996, no. 62-8 [fan 8]
この絵の主題には、ヘンリー•ジョリィが簡潔な説明を与えている（Henry Joly ‘Legend in Japanese Art’, London, John Lane, 1908, P.25）。すなわち、象を撫でる盲人は一般的な画題で、かつてインドから象が日本にもたらされた時、触りにきた盲人たちが、牙や鼻、足など触る場所に応じて刀、蛇、木の幹などを想像し、この怪物がいかなる生き物なのか話がまとまらなかったという。ここから、部分だけで判断せず全体を見よという教訓が引き出された。
巨大な象が片隅に寄せられ扇の縁で半ば切りとられるのに対し、小さな盲人は構図の中央に置き忘れられたかのようで、彼の混乱ぶりが巧みに現わされている。墨と淡彩による伝統的な狩野派様式と、象を描く遠近法やその皮膚の造型感覚などの西洋から新たに渡来した要素が融合し、永濯のような明治初期に作画した画家が支配されていた雑多な影響を映し出している。
（竹内美砂子（名古屋市博物館））
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Asahi 1996, no. 62-9 [fan 9]
払子は禅宗で用いられる仏具で、ここではとくに達磨の払子に擬されている。達麿は江戸時代に遊女を指す隠語であるから、ここによって禅の公案のような賛が聖俗をおかしく混じえていることが説明できよう。「伊達男の再来は、意気だこと。昨夜は船でお楽しみ」。この賛が当時よく知られた禅語のひねりであることは確かであるが、それが何かは確定できていない。再来という言葉は再生を意味する仏教用語であるとともに、好みの客が遊女を再び訪ねることを意味しよう。なお猪牙舟とは、吉原を行き来する客を乗せる舟のこと。
（竹内美砂子（名古屋市博物館））
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
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2022 16 Apr-12 Jun, Tokyo, Suntory Museum of Art, Hokusai from the British Museum
- Associated events
- Associated Event: New Year (fan 1?)
- Associated titles
Associated Title: Kokin waka shu (fan 3; preface)
- Acquisition date
- 1982
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- 1982,0701,0.17
- Additional IDs
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Asia painting number: Jap.Ptg.Add.702 (Japanese Painting Additional Number)
