Totoya Hokkei (1780-1850)

Kintaro was a child of superhuman strength who was raised by a mountain woman on Mount Ashigara. By the age of eight he was strong enough to cut down trees as quickly as woodcutters and his mother gave him a large axe which he would take to the woods to cut trees. He became friends with the animals of the mountain, especially a bear, deer, monkey and hare. Kintaro features in many print designs by different artists and in this example, the grown-up Kintaro (now a warrior called Sakata Kintoki) is dreaming of his childhood in the forest - the young boy is shown with his axe and a bear cub.

For another impression of the same design in The Art Institute of Chicago, go to:
https://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/81020?search_no=1=41

Surimono were privately and expensively commissioned prints printed on slightly thicker presentation paper, which enabled special and more complex printing effects including blind embossing and use of metallic pigments. Yashima Gakutei and Totoya Hokkei were great exponents of this style of print which were often commissioned for poetry gatherings and the New Year.