by Kubo Shunman
No. 7 from Kubo Shunman's series Seven Pictures for the Hisakataya (Hisakataya shichiban no uchi) presents an unusually layered image even by the standards of his kyoka-e output: votive paintings of the Six Immortal Poets, a flight of geese, and a pagoda built from stacked coins, all juxtaposed within a single sheet. The Hisakataya was a kyoka circle, and [surimono](/glossary/surimono) like this were commissioned to mark seasonal observances, anniversaries, or other private occasions for poets who valued allusion as much as drawing. The Six Immortal Poets, the Rokkasen, anchor the picture in classical poetic tradition; the flying geese evoke autumn and longing in the Japanese poetic lexicon; and the coin pagoda makes a pun on votive offerings and the financial wherewithal of the circle's patrons. Shunman composes these elements with the deliberate quiet that marks his best Edo [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e) prints, allowing the symbolic load to be read through the inscribed poems rather than insisted upon visually. Now in the Art Institute of Chicago, the impression preserves the careful printing typical of surimono, including subtle gradations and likely metallic or blind-printed passages that catch the light differently than ordinary commercial woodblock prints. As both designer and poet himself, Kubo Shunman approached such commissions from inside the kyoka world, and the sheet remains a rewarding study in how surimono compress literary, seasonal, and social meanings into a small, deeply considered picture.
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
No. 7: Votive paintings of Six Immortal poets, flying geese, and a pagoda made of coins, from the series "Seven Pictures for the Hisakataya (Hisakataya shichiban no uchi)" was created by Kubo Shunman (窪俊満) in c. 1810's.
No. 7: Votive paintings of Six Immortal poets, flying geese, and a pagoda made of coins, from the series "Seven Pictures for the Hisakataya (Hisakataya shichiban no uchi)" depicts pagodas.
