Making Plum Sake

Entry

A kettle for heating plum wine on a brazier, next to it a lacquer stand with a ewer for serving the drink and two cups. In the foreground a book, a branch of plum blossoms behind.

Print from the series Plum, Bamboo and Plum, Shochikubai.

Although not explicitly titled, this is the ‘Plum’ subject from the series of three prints on the theme of Pine, Bamboo and Plum, Shochikubai. The book in the print is titled A Hundred Poems on Sake Written by the Moonlight, Kyogetsu sake hyakushu most likely an allusion to an ancient collection of kyoka poems by the monk Kyogetsubo (1265-1328). The decoration of monkey dolls on the small cup are taken here as a reference to the New Monkey Year.

Two poems by Shofuen Hananushi and Kyokado [Yomo no Utagaki] Magao [1753-1829, Shikatsube Magao, pupil of Yomo Akara. Used the name ‘Yomo’ from 1796, when he became a judge of the Yomogawa. Alternative name Kyokado].⁴

The first poem reads:
Although I hear nothing, see nothing and say nothing, the lips of the plum open on the third day and spread their scent
- an obvious reference to the three monkeys who hear, see and speak no evil. As usual, the poem by Magao lacks imagination.

The theme of ‘Pine, Bamboo and Plum’ is very common in both Chinese and Japanese art, recurring on porcelain, lacquer and in paintings. The evergreen pine and bamboo symbolise old age and renewal. Bamboo also bends in the wind without breaking, and the plum is the first tree to blossom in the New Year. In this series, the title is indicated by a representation of the three elements, and is not written in characters.

Issued by the Yomogawa
Signature reading: Keisai