Object data
nishikie, with metallic pigments, blindprinting and tsuyazuri
height 207 mm × width 181 mm
Totoya Hokkei
God and Cocks
Japan, Japan, Japan, 1825
Inscriptions
- collector's mark, verso, stamped
- collector's mark, verso, stamped
Provenance
…; collection Charles M. Mali (collector's mark);…; the dealer Albert Van Loock, Brussels (L. 3751); or the dealer Albert Van Loock, Brussels (L. 3751);…; collection Charles M. Mali (collector's mark);…; purchased from the dealer Hotei Japanese Prints, Leiden, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1982;1 by whom donated to the museum, 1991
Object number: RP-P-1991-453
Credit line: Gift of J.H.W. Goslings, Epse
Copyright: Public domain
Context
One of the sheets of this pentaptych has a poem by Dondontei Wataru who, according to Kano2 died in VII/1822, which would contradict the dating of 1825 adopted here. However, as Wataru is also known to have selected some kyoka collections as late as 18253 this would either mean that the date in Kano4 is incorrect, or that there was also a Dondontei Wataru II.
The complete pentaptych is in the National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden (563a-1-5) and is reproduced in Kyrova.5
For other designs from this pentaptych, see:
No. 1 6
No. 4 7
No. 5 8
Apart from a large untitled series of still lifes designed by Ryuryukyo Shinsai for the New Year of 1821 (see Keyes9), the Taikogawa rarely issued series of surimono:
1812: Shinsai: single print for Dondontei10
1820: Kunisada diptych11
early 1820s: Shinsai: Still-lives (series)
1822: Shuntei: Chohi on horseback, Hanagasaren12
Shinsai: Genji series (3?);
1823(?): Shuntei: Shichifukujin, 7 Lucky Gods for Hanagasaren13
1824(?): Gakutei: Needlework (diptych)14
1825: Hokkei: Toriawase sanban no uchi (triptych)15
1825: Hokkei: haru no iwato (pentaptych);
1827(?): Hokkei: single print 16 (Setsuri [Meiji reprint only]).
The artist
Totoya Hokkei (1780-1850) was a pupil of Katsushika Hokusai, although he was first trained in the Kano painting tradition and used the art-names Kyosai and Aoigaoka. He was one of the most prolific designers of surimono in the 1820s and early 1830s, and also illustrated numerous collections of kyoka poetry.
Entry
A long-nosed, long-haired, bearded man with a sword and holding a halberd standing by a rooster and hen.
The man is the god Sarutahiko who accompanied Uzume in her dancing during the combined efforts of the gods to lure the Goddess of the Sun, Amaterasu no Omikami, from the cave where she was hiding. It is interesting to compare Hokkei's designs of especially sheets 2 and 3 of this pentaptych to the illustrations of Sarutahiko Daijin and Ama no Uzume no mikoto in Hokusai manga, vol. 5, 25b/26a of 1816.
Number Two, Sono ni, from the pentaptych The Cave of Spring, Haru no iwato.
This is the second sheet only of a pentaptych composition based on the myth of the Sun Goddess who, angry at her brother's behaviour, hid in a cave, and resisted the attempts by the other gods to draw her out. From right to left, a god beating a drum, Sarutahiko dancing, the Goddess Uzume no mikoto dancing, Ama no Tajikarao removing the stone closing the cave, and a god playing the flute.
Two poems by Saiseitei Nanao [also Kireitei],17 and Sekigentei Namio [a member of the Taikogawa]. The second poem concludes with a reference to the 'First Day of the Year of the Cock'.
Issued by the Taikogawa
Signature reading: Hokkei, with seal: Hokkei
Literature
M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 326
Citation
M. Forrer, 2013, 'Totoya Hokkei, God and Cocks, Japan, 1825', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200473089
(accessed 11 December 2025 15:47:16).