YASHIMA GAKUTEI (1786-1868)UTAGAWA KUNISADA (1786-1864)

The poet’s table was privately issued on the occasion of the poet Yojuen Kanikomaru’s (1782-1832) change of name to Tojuen Nandara. Poets and artists often changed their artist name (go) to mark different stages of their artistic output. Tojuen [lit. The garden of Chinese trees] himself composed the first kyoka poem on the print, creating a rustic self-portrait by referring to Bizen, his hometown famous for its simple unglazed pottery wares. Contrastingly, the accoutrements assembled to illustrate Tojuen are that of a refined literati gentleman: a sparse ink painting of bamboo and a faint full moon, a lacquer box with writing paper, books, a seal with ink, and a sho, a reed instrument often associated with ancient Chinese sages. Leaning on the table is a framed calligraphy of the poet’s new name by his teacher Rokujuen, who also composed the second poem.

The first kyoka poem by Tojuen has been translated in Charlotte Van Rappard-Boon, Surimono: Poetry & Image in Japanese Prints, (Amsterdam, 2000), pg. 43:

Sekitai no
naotori kaete
hito shiramu
Toju o ueru
Bizen suribachi

I am changing my poetry name
ancient as moss
to let people know
a Chinese tree has been planted
in a Bizen-ware mortar.

For another impression of the same surimono, see Charlotte Van Rappard-Boon, Surimono: Poetry & Image in Japanese Prints, (Amsterdam, 2000), frontispiece.

The second surimono woodblock print depicts the actors Ichikawa Ebijuro and Ichikawa Danjuro VII in the roles of Sato Toranosuke and Takechi Samonosuke in the play Saruwaka Hisago no Gumbai performed at the Nakamura in September 1820.