Masamune Forging the Sword

An unusual subject in Shinsai's surimono output, Masamune Forging the Sword depicts the legendary thirteenth-century swordsmith Goro Nyudo Masamune at work at his anvil. The print is an example of historical mitate-e in surimono, where a famous figure from the past is invoked to give weight to a poetry-club commission. Shinsai brings to the subject the careful drawing of pose and tool he learned from Hokusai, while the print's metallic accents, used to suggest the glow of the forge and the gleam of the blade, demonstrate the deluxe production values for which Bunka-era surimono are admired. The kyoka inscriptions that accompanied the design likely turned on a pun linking the smith's craft with the poet's, an analogy long established in Japanese literary culture between forging steel and forging language. The Art Institute of Chicago preserves the impression in its surimono holdings.