by Kubo Shunman
Cock, Hen, and Rising Sun, from the series Seven Bird-and-flower Prints for the Fuyo Circle of Kanuma in Shimotsuke Province, is a [shikishiban](/glossary/shikishiban) [surimono](/glossary/surimono) in the Art Institute of Chicago dated to around 1810. The series demonstrates that Shunman's surimono patronage extended beyond Edo's central poetry circles to provincial kyoka groups: the Fuyo circle was based in Kanuma in Shimotsuke Province (modern Tochigi Prefecture), and the commissioning of a seven-print kacho (bird-and-flower) series by such a group indicates the geographic breadth of late-Edo poetry culture. The image depicts a cock and hen with a rising sun, an iconographic combination of unmistakable New Year auspiciousness - the rooster's crow announces the new dawn, and the rising sun figures the renewal of the year. The kacho format gives Shunman the opportunity to deploy the careful natural observation that characterizes his late style: the birds' plumage rendered with attention to color and pattern, the sun reduced to a simple disc, the composition spare and contemplative. The kyoka inscriptions above would link the imagery to New Year themes and to the poetic preoccupations of the Fuyo circle. As one of seven prints in a coordinated series, the design participated in a larger statement about birds, flowers, and the seasonal year, organized for a specific provincial audience. The Art Institute of Chicago's holding of this sheet contributes to a fuller picture of Shunman's reach.
Meiji Period (1868-1912)
Color woodblock print
1809
Color woodblock print; surimono
19th century
Woodblock print (surimono); ink and color on paper
1797
Woodblock print (surimono); ink and color on paper
Cock, Hen, and Rising Sun, from the series "Seven Bird-and-flower Prints for the Fuyo Circle of Kanuma in Shimotsuke Province (Yamagawa Shimotsuke Kanuma Fuyo-ren kacho nanaban tsuzuki no uchi)" was created by Kubo Shunman (窪俊満) in c. 1810.
Cock, Hen, and Rising Sun, from the series "Seven Bird-and-flower Prints for the Fuyo Circle of Kanuma in Shimotsuke Province (Yamagawa Shimotsuke Kanuma Fuyo-ren kacho nanaban tsuzuki no uchi)" depicts birds & flowers.
