KATSUSHIKA HOKUSAI: kakuban (20.6 x 17.9 cm.); Kutsuwa-cho "Bridle-bit quarters", a still-life depicting a guidebook to the Yoshiwara dated Bunsei 5 (1822) and an opened handscroll upon which two dandies appear, standing by the willow tree at the entrance gateway to the Yoshiwara. The design is set against a pale pink ground and is accompanied by two poems by Taimairo Teruyoshi and Shuchodo Monoyana, from the series Uma zukushi "a collection of horses", signed Fusenkyo Iitsu hitsu -- very good impression, color and condition

Details

KATSUSHIKA HOKUSAI: kakuban (20.6 x 17.9 cm.); Kutsuwa-cho "Bridle-bit quarters", a still-life depicting a guidebook to the Yoshiwara dated Bunsei 5 (1822) and an opened handscroll upon which two dandies appear, standing by the willow tree at the entrance gateway to the Yoshiwara. The design is set against a pale pink ground and is accompanied by two poems by Taimairo Teruyoshi and Shuchodo Monoyana, from the series Uma zukushi "a collection of horses", signed Fusenkyo Iitsu hitsu -- very good impression, color and condition

Lot Essay

For another impression see Van Rappard-Boon (1982), no. 50, p. 39

This series of 27 prints was commissioned by three different poetry groups: the Yomogawa, the Shuchudo and the Manji. Of the twenty-seven in the series all except a landscape triptych and the image of a playing child are still-life. They were issued in 1822, to celebrate the Year of the Horse, as is evidenced by the present print and by an egoyomi which appears in another design. All contain references to horses and horse furniture, although in some cases this reference is tenuos.