It is good to open for business (Akinai hajime yoshi), from the series "A Series for the Hanazono Group (Hanazono bantsuzuki)"

It is good to open for business (Akinai hajime yoshi) belongs to A Series for the Hanazono Group (Hanazono bantsuzuki), surimono Totoya Hokkei designed in 1817 for the Hanazono poetry circle. The series brought together a sequence of auspicious themes that suited New Year and commemorative gift-giving, with each design carrying its own short phrase and an accompanying set of kyoka verses by club members. The notion of opening for business, akinai hajime, refers to the ceremonial first commercial activity of the new year, a moment treated with care in Edo merchant culture and naturally laden with wishes for prosperity. Hokkei's composition transforms this everyday occasion into a finely tuned image, working within the disciplined draftsmanship and balanced design he learned from Katsushika Hokusai. As a Hokusai school surimono specialist, Hokkei was well placed to provide such a series with a coherent visual language, and the Hanazono group's commission would have allowed deluxe production methods including metallic pigments, embossing, and limited edition printing. Surimono of this kind were never intended for general sale; they circulated among the poets, their families, and connected social networks, where the visual elegance of the print formed a worthy setting for the verses themselves. The Art Institute of Chicago preserves this impression under accession entry 81482, providing a tangible record of how an Edo poetry group used Hokkei's design to mark an auspicious moment in the commercial calendar and to celebrate the bonds between its members.