Surimono catalogue FINAL WEB.pdf - Sanders of Oxford

Surimono 

A catalogue of privately commissioned original 

Japanese woodblock prints from the 19th 

century. 

Sanders of Oxford, Rare Prints & Maps. Salutation House,104 High Street, Oxford, OX1 4BW. 

www.sandersofoxford.com, info@sandersofoxford.com, 01865 242590

Surimono is the name given to a type of privately published Japanese 

woodblock print that became especially popular in the first third of the 

nineteenth century. Literally meaning “printed object”, surimono can refer 

to text, pictures, or frequently, a combination of the two. The word was 

first recorded as early as 1094 but it wasn’t until the1760s that the term 

began to be applied to a new form of woodblock print: that which was 

privately commissioned and published in limited editions. Experiemental 

and elaborately printed, surimono were designed by the leading ukiyoe 

artists of the day and amateurs alike, often to commemorate special 

occasions such as the New Year, and distributed amongst friends and 

associates. 

The surimono tradition of privately distributed woodblock prints can be 

split into two distinctions: publications to announce or commemorate 

events such as musical performances or national holidays, and 

publications which combined image and verse, often commissioned 

by poetry societies. The images were used to illustrate the seventeen 

syllable haiku or the thirty-one syllable kyōka, enriching the verse with 

visual context and vice versa. Although trimmed off in some cases, text 

also features in announcement surimono, and is one of the elements that 

sets this tradition apart from commercially published woodblock prints. 

The advent of surimono in the 18 th century coincided with major 

advances in colour printing in Japan and surimomo artists were able to 

take full advantage, experimenting with new pigments and techniques. 

Artists designing surimono did not operate under the same constraints 

as designers of commercial prints, and having only the wishes of 

the commissioner to restrict them, these works were often produced 

as deluxe prints with an abundant use of gold and silver pigments, 

delicate and complicated colour palettes, elaborate embossing and 

complicated designs. Printed on hōsho, a thick, often unsized, paper, the 

smaller shikishiban format used for surimomo was particularly suited to 

embossing and absorbing pigments. This enabled artists to apply more 

complicated techniques than in larger prints where colour had to cover a 

larger area or the paper was harder. 

Unrestricted by commercial demands, privately published surimono 

allowed the artist to explore a wider range of subject matter. Surimono 

designers often pioneered subject matter that found its way into 

commercial prints later. For example, such works often depicted women 

engaging in domestic activities associated with the New Year. The “still 

life” flourished in surimono design while being neglected in standard

ukiyo-e printmaking. The many surimono of birds, animals and flowers 

may have encouraged Hiroshige to design commercial prints of these 

subjects and Hokusai and Hokkei’s designs of historical and legendary 

figures were a direct inspiration for Kuniyoshi’s popular Suikoden series. 

The demand for surimono waned by the 1830s as subject matter that 

had not previously been addressed in commercial printing began to 

appear in ukiyo-e woodblocks, reducing the need for the works that had 

first inspired them. Towards the end of the 19 th and into the 20 th century 

reproductions of early surimono made between 1810 and 1830 were 

produced. Principally sold to Western tourists in Japan, these copies have 

become known as Akashi surimono after the town in which they were 

made. Akashi surimono are extremely fine reproductions incorporating the 

same lavish features of the originals, such as blind printing and the ornate 

use of rich pigments. The most tangible difference was merely the rigidity 

and colour of the paper, the 1820s hōsho being softer and more porous 

than the later paper, which also had the tendency to turn a slight brown 

colour due to the sizing used. Akashi suirmono were often mistaken for 

the originals until the 1970s and it was Roger Keyes groundbreaking 

research and subsequent essay in his 1985 book The Art of Surimono 

that has defined Akashi and their groupings. Keyes found that Akashi 

surimono in the square format fall into four categories A, B, C, and D. The 

groups are defined by the quality of reproduction with A being the highest 

quality. Keyes also created a list of known Akashi surimono which has 

aided in identifying them from the originals. 

In this catalogue we present a collection of original and Akashi surimono. 

All but one of the Akashi surimono are Meiji A copies. Original surimono 

prints are scarce because they were privately published in such limited 

numbers. Akashi surimono have become collectible in the own right, 

many are rare themselves and often depict surimono for which there is no 

known original. Whilst Akashi surimono were reproduced with the same 

techniques as the originals that they copy, they are much less expensive 

than the originals, another factor which has fuelled their collectability.

1. Ferry on the Sumida River. 

Woodblock with gauffrage 

after Keisai Eisen (1790-1848) 

early 1890’s 

Shikishiban 212 x 187 mm 

mounted 

Meiji A copy 

Signature: Keisai 

Refrence: Keyes, Roger. The Art of Surimono: Privately publised Japanese woodblock prints and 

books in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin. Sotheby, London, 1985. pg. 514, 3. 

[27825] 

£250

2. Courtesan seated beside a life-size wooden carving of a kamuro. 


Hosoda Eishi (1756-1829) 



mounted 

Meiji C copy 



Condition: Tipped to another piece of paper. 

[27839] 

£120

3. Porcelain cup, tie-dyed silk, and hair ornaments. 


after Kikukawa Eishin (active c. 1810s - 1820s) 



mounted 

A calander picture for 1818. 

Meiji A copy 

Signature: Horai Eishin ga. 



The object in the black lacquer box is a tortoiseshell hairpin. The tie-dye silk cloth, the green 

embossed white cords, and the silver hairpin are all hair ornaments. The original print was 

published as a picture calendar for 1818. 

[27724] 

£250

4. Old man laughing at two sparrows dressed as women. 


after Kikugawa Eizan (1787-1868) 



mounted 

Meiji A copy 

Series title: Mukashibanashi chijin’yu: Wisdom, Benevolence, and Bravery in Fairy Tales 



[27826] 

£300

5. The calligrapher Ono no Tofu standing beside a writing table. 


after Yashima Gakutei (ca.1786 - 1868) 



mounted 

Meiji A copy 

Series title: Bumbo shiyu: The Four Friends of the Writing Table 



Condition: Small hole in the lower right border. 

[27827] 

£280

6. Chinese princess looking down at box with spider’s web. 





mounted 

Meji A copy 

Series: Niban tsuzuki: Diptych 

Signature: Sadaoka Gakutei hitsu 

Publisher: Tsumura Isakichi 

Poems by: Shunjoro Mitsune and Katanoue Koreneri 



[27637] 

£350

7. Geisha strolling with kamuro; entrance gate of the Yoshiwara. 





mounted 

Meiji A copy 

Series title: Honchoren juban: Ten Pictures for the Honcho Circle 



[27744] 

£300

8. Lady Wei seated at a writing table. 





mounted 

Meiji A copy 

Series title: Bumbo shiyu: The Four Friends of the Writing Table 



[27745] 

£300

9. Peasant family seated beside a hearth. 





mounted 

Meiji A copy 

Series title: Honchoren honcho nijushiko: Twenty-four Examples of Filial Devotion in Japan for the 

Honcho Circle 



Condition: Tiny loss lower left. 

[27746] 

£200

10. The poetess Ono no Komachi standing on a verandah. 





mounted 

Meiji A copy 

Series title: Katsushika sakura zukushi: Cherry Trees for the Katsuhika 



[27747] 

£300

11. Two blowfish and branch of plum blossom. 





mounted 

Meiji A copy 



[27723] 

£300

12. Wine kettle and cup wrapped in silk gauze. 





mounted 

Meiji A copy 



[27709] 

£220

13. The launderess Kanejo. 

Woodblock print with gauffage 

Yashima Gakutei (ca.1786 - 1868) 

c. 1822 

Shikishiban 209 x 184. mm 

mounted 

Series: Katsushikaren gakumen fujin awase: Framed Paintings of Women for the Katsushika 

Circle 

Signature: Gakutei 



Kanejo, or Okane, was a prostitute in Kaizu, a town on the north shore of Lake Biwa, and a 

strategic point on the road bewtween Kyoto and Tsuruga in Echizen Province.One day while she 

was laundering by the lake, a runaway horse approached her. She planted one of her woden 

sandals on the horse’s reins and held it there firmly until the animal was subdued. The poem is by 

Kaentei Shigeki. 

Condition: Slightly faded and slightly soiled. Some overall creasing. 

[27840] 

£650

14. Woman Holding a Tortoise-shaped Paperweight (Bunchin), from the series 

Seven Designs for the Katsushika Circle: Katsushika shichiban tsuzuki. 


Yashima Gakutei (ca.1786 - 1868) 

c. 1826 


mounted 

Series: Katsushika shichiban tsuzuki: Seven pictures for the Katsushika Group 

Poetry : Bunritsuen Kokin and Bunsaien Fudemaru. 

From a seven sheet series which forms a continuous composition linked by the gold screen in 

the background. The silver tortoise held in her hand, together with the paintings of a tortoise and 

crane, were symbols of longevity appropriate for surimono intended for the New Year. 

Condition: Slightly faded and slightly soiled. Other minor defects. 

[27636] 

£950

15. Mirror with reflection of a nine-tailed fox. 


after Harukawa Goshichi (1776-1831) 



mounted 

Meiji A copy 

Seals: Harukawa Goshichi, Tani Seiko 



[27710] 

£220

16. Pheasant seated in a willow tree. 


Kikugawa Hidemaro (fl. 1804-1817) 



mounted 

Meiji A copy 



[27838] 

£90

17. Hanging Scroll with painting of immortal and crane. 


after Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) 



mounted 

Meiji A copy, box embossed 



[27828] 

£150

18. Pottery doll of kneeling woman, fern, and New Year ornament. 


after Totoya Hokkei (1780-1850) 



mounted 

Meiji A copy 



[27721] 

£200

19. Two fans against a pattern of running water. 


after Totoya Hokkei (1780-1850) 



mounted 

Meiji A copy 

Series Title: Goshiki bantsuzuki ogi nagashi: Five Colours on Floating Fans 



[27722] 

£200

20. Woman painting a pictue of Mt. Fuji. 


after Teisai Hokuba (1771-1844) 



mounted 

Meiji A copy 

Series title: Makura soshi: The Pillow Book 

Signature: Teisai 



[27643] 

£350

21. Armour and arrow. 


after Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) 



mounted 

Meiji A copy 

Series title: Shisei: The Four Clans 

Signature: Fusenkyo Iitsu Hitsu 



Condition: Worm hole in image. 

[27638] 

£280

22. Crow with sword. 





mounted 

Meiji A copy 


Signature: Fusenkyo Iitsu hitsu 



[27646] 

£220

23. Flute, lute in bocade case and cherry blossoms. 





mounted 

Meiji A copy 





[27647] 

£180

24. Jewels and sickle on stand. 





mounted 

Meiji A copy 





[27645] 

£180

25. Tobacco pouch, pipe case, and wooden box. 





mounted 

Meiji A copy 

Series title: Uma tsukushi: Horses 



[27644] 

£180

26. Vases, trays, and materials for flower arrangement; the Flower Shell. 





mounted 

Meiji A copy 

Series title: Genroku kasen kai awase: A Matching Game with the Genroku Poem Shells 



[27694] 

£170

27. Oi pouring wine from a cask for Hankai. 





mounted 

Meiji A copy 

Series title: Soramitsuya-ren wakan buyu- awase: Sanban no uchi A Comparison of Valour in 

China and Japan 



[27708] 

£350

28. Woman preparing a tray landscape. 





mounted 

Meiji A copy 

Series title: Osana asobi ken: Three Pictures for A Children’s Handgame 

Signature: Hokusai aratame Iitsu Hitsu 



Condition: Two worm holes. 

[27692] 

£270

29. Woman with kite caught in bundle of twigs. 





mounted 

Meiji A copy 

Signature: Saki no Sori Hokusai ga 



Condition: Two worm holes. 

[27693] 

£250

30. Courtesan and samurai. 


Aoigaoka Keisei (fl. 1818-1844) 

c. 1830-35 


mounted 

Signature: Aoigaoka Keisei 

With a kyoka poem by Kajitsuen Hidenari enclosed within a circle to the top right corner. 

[27841] 

£1,400

31. Ichikawa Danjuro VII as the blind hero Kagekiyo and Segawa Kikunojo V . 

Woodblock print 

attributed to Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865) 

c. 1825 


mounted 

Unidentified collector’s mark on verso 

Conditon: Several worm holes. 

[27844] 

£650

32. Mimasu Gennosuke. 


Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865) 

c.1830 


mounted 

Signature: Kunisada 

Kabuki actor Mimasu Gennosuke. He is wearing a kimono with wisteria pattern. This print comes 

from a very rare and sought after series by Kunisada of Okuni-e actor portraits published in 

Kakuban size. 

[27846] 

£375

33. Woman Dancing Sanbasô. 



1830 

191 x 127 mm 

mounted 

Signature: Gototei Kunisada ga 

Publisher: Shimizu-ya 

Censor: kiwame 

Unidentified collectors’ marks on verso. 

[27836] 

£650

34. Untitled 


Kunimitsu Utagawa (active ca. 1800-1820) 

c. 1810 


mounted 

Signature: Ichiyosai Kunimitsu ga 

Kunimitsu Utagawa was a pupil of Toyokuni. He was a prolific book illustrator, but his prints are 

rare. 

[27851] 

£700

35. Still life with vase of blossoms next to a crab. 


Unread 

c. 1820 

204 x 165 mm 

mounted 

[27843] 

£900

36. [Man on a Dragon]. 


Unread 

c. 1810 


Mounted 

[27852] 

£1,000

Artist Biographies

Keisai Eisen (1790-1848) 

Keisai Eisen was the son of the colligrapher Ikeda Shigeharu. He was born in Edo and studied 

with a Kano painter, Hakkeisai, and then with Kikugawa Eizan. He specialised in pictures of 

women, book illustrations and erotica. He designed a number of surimono in the late 1810s 

andlate 1820s. 

Hosoda Eishi (1756-1829) 

Hosoda Eishi was a samurai who studied with Kano Eisen in Sukenobu and became an official 

painter at the court of the shogun in Edo. He was given the name Eishi, it the alleged, by the 

Tokugawa shogun Ieharu. In the mid 1780s he was supposed to have studied with an otherwise 

unknown ukiyo-e printmaker named Torii Bunryusai. Eishi designed his first woodblock prints 

around 1786. During the next decade he was very active as print designer, specializing in pictures 

of beautiful women. Around 1797 he retired from print design and devoted the rest of his life to 

painting. 

Kikukawa Eishin (fl. c. 1810s - 1820s) 

Kikukawa Eishin was a pupil of Kikukawa Eizan. He designed a few commerical and surimono 

prints. 

Kikugawa Eizan (1787-1868) 

Eizan was the most prolific, longest-lived and ultimately the best of the late followers of Utamaro, 

who attempted to carry on the master’s bijin style after his death in 1806. Along with Kikumaro, 

Tsukimaro and Utamaro II, Eizan has generally been dismissed by connoisseurs as a plagiarist 

of Utamaro’s late style, but his work developed, like that of most ukiyo-e artists, from a close 

identification with a leading master to a studied independence.Unlike the artists with whom he 

is often associated, Eizan was not an actual pupil of Kitagawa Utamaro, but studied originally 

with his father, Kikugawa Eiji, a Kano style painter and fan maker, and later with the Shijo artist 

Suzuki Nanrei and the Hokusai pupil Hokkei. He produced some remarkable triptychs and vertical 

diptychs, as well as a few surimono. He seems to have retired from printmaking in the late 1820s, 

though he did contribute illustrations for books even quite late in his life. 

Yashima Gakutei (c. 1786 - 1868) 

Schooled in Kokusai’s workshop under the tutelage of Hokkei, Gakutei, while principally involved 

in creating surimono, was a well known writer and kyôka poet. He was the illegitimate son of 

an Edo samurai by the name of Hirata, who was in the service of the Bakufu. His mother’s 

subsequent marriage into the Yashima clan, however, gave him the art-name by which he is 

chiefly known. Although prolific, it was the delicate beauty and precise technical quality of his 

surimono, which distinguished him from other artists. 

Harukawa Goshichi (1776-1831)

Harukawa Goshichi was born in Edo and in 1818 he moved to Kyoto. At the beginnning of his 

career he drew and published portraits of actors as well as surimono. Goshichi also wrote and 

illustrated his own novels. He was possibly a pupil of Harukawa Eizan, from whom he took his 

name. 

Kikugawa Hidemaro (fl. 1804-1817) 

Hidemaro Kitagawa was a pupil of Utamaro. During Utamaro’s last years he was active in 

assisting his master in book illustrations. 

Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) 

Utagawa Hiroshige was born in Edo, the son of a supervisor of a brigade of firemen. He studied 

painting with a neighbour, Okajima Rinsai, and 1811, at the age of fourteen, he began to study with 

the ukiyo-e artist Toyohiro. In 1814 his first print was published, but it was not unitl 1818 that he 

produced prints in any number. In about 1821, he produced his first square surimono and during 

the next decade he designed over two dozen more – a small number compared to the many 

thousands of commerical prints. 

Totoya Hokkei (1780-1850) 

One of Hokusai’s earliest and most gifted pupils, Hokkei was particularly renowned in the field of 

surimono. Before his initial training with Kanô Yôsen’ in Korenobu, he worked as a fishmonger 

at Yotsuya Samegahashi, hence the unusual art surname of Totoya/Uoya (fish shop). Hokkei’s 

first work appeared in 1799. He designed a number of surimono in the 1800s and 1810s, but he 

did not master the art of desiging them until the late 1810s. Besides surimono and illustrations 

for poetry albums, Hokkei designed a few illustrations for popular fiction and some commercially 

published prints. 

Teisai Hokuba (1771-1844) 

Teisai Hokuba was an inactive retainer of the shogun: later in his life he too lay religious orders. 

He was active in the 1800s and 1810 as an illustrator of popular fiction, but also designed a 

few surimono during this period and continued to design illustrations for privately printed poetry 

anthologies thereafter. He may have been one of Hokusai’s earliest pupiles and adopted the 

name Hokuba while Hokusai was still using the name Sori. 

Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) 

Hokusai began his career as a print designer in 1779 as a pupil of Katsukawa Shunso. Hokusai 

appears to have become intrigued by the surimono in the 1790s. Fumiko Togasaki, in her 1979 

essay on Hokusai’s surimono, suggests that this was related to the Kansei Reforms of 1790, which 

attempted to control morals and manners as well as publications, including woodblock prints. Each 

print was required to have the official approval of the Tokugawa government, and from this year 

on a censor mark appeared on every print. Surimono needed neither publisher nor government 

approval, because it was privately printed at the patron’s own expense. 

In 1796, Hokusai designed a number of surimono and privately published album sheets. From 

1799 to 1809, he produced a large number of surimono prints, but relatively few in the following 

decade. In 1820 Hokusai resumed designing surimono and produced a large number in the two

following years. After 1824, Hokusai practically withdrew making surimono although he did make 

a few in the early 1830s. 

Aoigaoka Keisei (fl. 1818-1844) 


Utagawa Kunisada was born in the Homjo district of Edo. He became a pupil of Toyokuni at the 

age of fifteen in 1801, and began to design book illustrations and single sheet prints around 1807. 

He was recognized as a serious artist after he designed a group of seven half-lenghth portraits of 

actors with mica bacgrounds. After he produced these prints he became friends with many of the 

leading actors, writers, and artists of the period. It was probably through his personal contacts 

with such people that brought Kunisada so many commissions to design surimono of actors for 

poets and groups that shared his interest in kabuki theater. Many of Kunisada’s surimono are of 

his friend the Kabuki actor Ichikawa Danjuro VII (1791-1859). 

Kunisada also designed many surimono of beautiful women. His surimono were mainly square 

format and range in date from 1810 to 1830, although a majority of them were produced between 

the late 1810s and late 1820s. He probably designed between 200 and 300 surimono. 

Kunimitsu Utagawa (active c. 1800-1820) 

Kunimitsu Utagawa was a pupil of Toyokuni. He was a prolific book illustrator, but his prints are 

rare. 

Sanders of Oxford, Rare Prints & Maps. 

Salutation House,104 High Street, Oxford, OX1 4BW. 

www.sandersofoxford.com 

info@sandersofoxford.com 

01865 242590

Surimono catalogue FINAL WEB.pdf - Sanders of Oxford

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?