Wasabi root with dried bonito and knife on a lacquer tray

Totoya Hokkei's 1820 surimono of wasabi root with dried bonito and a knife on a lacquer tray, held by the Art Institute of Chicago, exemplifies the still-life subjects favored by Edo kyoka-e poetry clubs. Surimono frequently turned to such carefully arranged objects, where each item invited associations that the accompanying kyoka verses could amplify into clever puns and seasonal references. Wasabi and dried bonito (katsuobushi) are foundational ingredients of Japanese cuisine and carried strong associations with prosperity and well-being, particularly at the New Year when many surimono were issued. The lacquer tray on which they rest is itself an object of refinement, and the depiction of its glossy black or red surface would have given the printer an opportunity to display the deluxe printing techniques that distinguish surimono from commercial ukiyo-e: graded color, burnishing and the use of metallic pigments or lacquer-like inks. As a leading pupil of Katsushika Hokusai, Hokkei specialized in just this kind of compressed, jewel-like still life within the Hokusai school's broad repertoire. The sheet's quiet composition and careful object-by-object description belong to a long tradition of Japanese hand-painted hanging scrolls of food and utensils, here translated into the social register of kyoka-e and the technical possibilities of early nineteenth-century woodblock printing.