Daikoku, from the series of "Seven Gods of Luck (Shichi fuku jin no uchi)"

This Art Institute of Chicago surimono is from Hokkei's series Shichi fuku jin no uchi (The Seven Gods of Luck), depicting Daikoku - the deity of wealth, agriculture, and household prosperity - who is among the most beloved members of the Shichifukujin pantheon. Daikoku's traditional attributes include his large rice bag, his fat money purse, and his small wish-granting mallet, all of which made him an emblem of New Year prosperity and ideal for surimono commissioned to mark the year's beginning. The series Shichi fuku jin no uchi gave Hokkei the opportunity to depict each of the seven gods in turn, building a cumulative auspicious cycle that poetry circles could collect and exchange as a complete set. Hokkei renders Daikoku with the warm rotundity traditional to his iconography, his attributes carefully detailed, his smile inviting good fortune. Inscribed kyoka verses would have engaged the god's specific associations with prosperity and household well-being. The Art Institute's impression preserves the refined printing and saturated color characteristic of the Seven Gods of Luck series, one of Hokkei's most enduring contributions to the Edo surimono tradition.