Object data
nishikie, with metallic pigments and blindprinting (on the lid of the box)
height 130 mm × width 186 mm
Katsushika Hokusai
Two Women With a Koto
Japan, Japan, c. 1800 - c. 1805
Provenance
…; purchased from the dealer Kunsthandel Huys den Esch, Dodewaard, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1986;1 by whom donated to the museum, 1991
Object number: RP-P-1991-584
Credit line: Gift of J.H.W. Goslings, Epse
Copyright: Public domain
Context
This series, illustrating 'features of strength' as vows to the Bodhisattvas, actually parodies scenes from various well-known kabuki plays.
For others of the series, see:
Two ladies by the Naniwa tune, a plum tree, one seated on a bench -2;
Two ladies and a small boy as the warrior Minamoto no Tametomo trying to draw a bow -3,4;
Two ladies trying to dislodge a shuttlecock from a plum tree, alluding to the play Ebira no ume -5;
A woman pulling the scarf of another lady holding a broom, alluding to the play Kagekiyo -6.
The print in Ota7 is mistakenly identified as one of the series.
Entry
Two women in a room. One of them, seated by the alcove, tokonoma, is apparently attempting to tune a zither, koto, a small box of koto bridges before her. She is being interrupted by the standing lady who takes away the instrument.
Koto, from the series The Five Great Strengths, Godairiki.
The scene parodies the story of the Soga brothers, specifically the accidental fight between Soga no Goro Tokimune and Asahina Saburo, in which the former pulled the armour off Asahina who, although a retainer of their enemy, had defected to their side. This scene is known as 'Pulling the Armour', Kusazuribiki, in kabuki performances based on this story of revenge. For another print depicting the same scene, see RP-P-1995-283.
One poem by Sanbanso Hajimaru.
Issued by an unidentified poetry club
Signature reading: Gakyojin Hokusai ga
Literature
M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 105
Citation
M. Forrer, 2013, 'Katsushika Hokusai, Two Women With a Koto, Japan, c. 1800 - c. 1805', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.422444
(accessed 17 November 2024 22:26:55).