Treasure Ship
by Mayumi Oda
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Source:
- Watanabe Print
- Image courtesy of
- Watanabe Print
Description
Oda's Treasure Ship (takarabune) reinterprets one of the most enduring motifs in Japanese visual culture — the vessel of good fortune traditionally carrying the Shichifukujin, the Seven Lucky Gods. In Oda's hands, the occupants are refigured as voluptuous goddess figures, their forms drawn with the confident, uninterrupted contours that distinguish her mature print style. The takarabune motif historically appeared on New Year's prints placed under pillows to invite auspicious dreams, and Oda's version retains this celebratory energy while displacing the male deities of the original with female embodiments of power and abundance. Her use of flat, saturated woodblock color — applied in broad registers without elaborate shading — gives the composition a boldness aligned with both traditional [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e) and twentieth-century graphic design.







