Climbing a mountain in Liuzhou, from the series "Picture Book of Chinese Poems (Toshi gafu no uchi)"

This surimono by Totoya Hokkei belongs to his series "Picture Book of Chinese Poems (Toshi gafu no uchi)," produced around 1825 to visualize celebrated poems from the Chinese classical tradition. The design illustrates a poem about climbing a mountain in Liuzhou, the southern Chinese region where the Tang dynasty poet Liu Zongyuan was exiled and composed some of his most affecting verses on landscape and loneliness. Hokkei composes the scene with the spare, calligraphic clarity he learned from his teacher Katsushika Hokusai, founder of the Hokusai school, translating the literary subject into the small square format that surimono required. The series reflects the cultural sophistication of early nineteenth-century Edo, where members of kyoka poetry clubs cultivated knowledge of Chinese poetry alongside their own vernacular verse. Surimono were commissioned by these clubs as private deluxe prints to mark seasonal occasions, and they tended toward erudite subject matter that flattered their educated recipients. Totoya Hokkei specialized in the surimono format throughout his career, and by the mid-1820s he ranked among its most accomplished practitioners, often working in close collaboration with his teacher and other Hokusai school pupils. The Art Institute of Chicago holds this impression among its early nineteenth-century print collection. The technical refinements characteristic of surimono are visible here: the heavy paper substrate, the careful color registration, the embossing that imparts subtle texture, and the metallic pigments that evoke luxury. Hokkei's engagement with Tang poetry through this series demonstrates how the Hokusai school extended its reach beyond purely Japanese subjects, embracing the cosmopolitan literary culture that Edo's educated audiences valued highly.