Object data
nishikie, with metallic pigments and blindprinting
height 209 mm × width 181 mm
Yanagawa Shigenobu (I)
Japan, Japan, c. 1823
nishikie, with metallic pigments and blindprinting
height 209 mm × width 181 mm
…; purchased from the dealer Hotei Japanese Prints, Leiden, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1985;1 by whom donated to the museum, 1991
Object number: RP-P-1991-579
Credit line: Gift of J.H.W. Goslings, Epse
Copyright: Public domain
This untitled series of dancers is based on the annual Nerimono Festival held in Shinmachi, the licensed quarters in Osaka. In addition to this series of surimono prints, Shigenobu also designed a similar series in the standard oban format, entitled The Nerimono Festival at Shinmachi, Osaka, Osaka Shinmachi nerimono, all on a yellow ground. These are often dated to c. 1822 (Keyes 1973, 24, and 340-45). Some of these prints are, indeed, direct counterparts of the designs in the surimono format. Mirviss & Carpenter date this untitled series to VI/18222 a rather improbable date for the issue of a surimono series, although Osaka customs may have been different. Indeed, Keyes3 suggests that this series of surimono was produced at the same time as the festival that took place in 1822/V.
I believe instead that Shigenobu may have produced the commercial series from 1822/V, initially as oban prints, soon after his arrival in early 1822 (also designing a print later that year commemorating the name change of Arashi Tokusaburo into Arashi Kitsusaburo, 1822/IX, with Hokushu), and the nerimono surimono version only for the New Year of 1823.
This design dates from the period Shigenobu lived and worked in Osaka. This also explains the addition 'from the Eastern Capital', Toto, to the signature. Shigenobu resided there from 18224 until the spring of 1823 (Nagata, idem), or 1825 (as proposed by Mirviss & Carpenter)5, 18266 or simply the mid-1820s7 when he returned to Edo. The last Edo publication he illustrated was issued in 1822, and the first kyoka collection with his illustrations, Kyoka Poems by 50 Poets, Kyoka gojunin isshu, selected by Ki no Osamaru8 was published in 1823 in Osaka. One anthology is known for the New Year of 1827, the Kyoka and Records of People, Kyoka jinbutsushi, also published in Edo.9 The dating of this series of surimono is based on his earliest Osaka publications.
Surimono designed during his Osaka period often have poems by poets from that city and, as a great benefit to the quality, were often produced at the Tani Seiko Studio operated by Tani Seikodo Takuboku. After his return to Edo, Shigenobu seems to have only used the signature Yanagawa Reisai - probably to distinguish him from his pupil, known earlier as Shigeyama who started using the signature Yanagawa Shigenobu from 1822. Keyes, however, assumes that Shigenobu II only started using this name from 1833 after his teacher died.10 This naturally also has a bearing on the dating of the designs by Shigenobu II, q.v.
For others of the series, including references to prints in the oban nerimono series, see:
Woman dancer with uchiwa
Woman dancer with ogi, chrysanthemum-patterned kimono - Drouot 1980, 3, 15111
Woman dancer in black over red, long sword12
Woman holding scroll, Mitate of Kanzan13
Woman dancer holding a small drum
Woman holding broom, mitate of Jittoku14
Woman with long-handled drumstick - NME, Leiden, 1353-1919, Palmer 357-1 [cf. Yoyogiku of the Kurahashiya in Momijigari, MFA 11.25831]
Woman dancer touching hair and holding ogi (?) - BM 1906,1220,0.299
Woman dancer holding bow15
Woman dancer with dragon-crown16 [cf. Nanazuru as Ryoo, BM 1943,0508,0.31]
Geisha by potted irises17
Geisha holding drumsticks18
Dancer by saddle, holding bow
Dancer holding coiled snake19.
Yanagawa Shigenobu (1787?–1833) was Katsushika Hokusai's pupil and son-in-law. He used the art-names Yanagawa and Reisai. In the 1820s, he moved to Osaka, where he continued designing prints.
A woman dancing, a stiff fan in her hand.
Print from an untitled series of Nerimono Festival Dancers.
This untitled series of dancers is based on the annual Nerimono Festival held in Shinmachi, the licensed quarters in Osaka.
One poem by Ki no Takafuru.
Issued by an unidentified poetry club
Sealed: Yanagawa
M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 367
M. Forrer, 2013, 'Yanagawa (I) Shigenobu, The Dancer, Japan, c. 1823', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.432601
(accessed 10 November 2024 09:11:12).