Goat beneath a plum tree

This Art Institute of Chicago shikishiban surimono pairs two emblems of the lunar New Year: the plum tree, whose blossoms open in the coldest weeks of the year as harbingers of spring, and the goat, which in the East Asian zodiac corresponds to the year of the sheep. The combination almost certainly identifies the print as a New Year commission for a goat-year kyoka poetry circle, the kind of yearly anniversary surimono that defined the genre's commercial rhythm. Hokkei's compositional instincts are on full display - the goat is rendered with sympathetic naturalism, the plum branches with calligraphic economy, and the negative space above and beside the figures left open to receive the inscribed kyoka verses that would have made the print legible to its original audience. The animal's slightly cocked head and alert eye suggest a poetic conceit of attention or anticipation, fitting for a New Year theme. Surimono of this kind were commissioned in small editions and exchanged among poetry-group members, who appreciated the cleverness of pairing zodiac animal with seasonal flora. The Art Institute's impression represents the kind of refined collaboration between designer, blockcarver, and printer that distinguished surimono from commercial nishiki-e of the period.