Kinutagai (The fulling-block shell)
1821
This print is one of thirty-six in Hokusai’s surimono (printed things) series commissioned by the Yomogawa poetry club in 1821. The poems on these prints are from the anthology Shell-Matching Game with Genroku-era Poets, published in 1689. In this print, two women are pounding used paper into pulp to make recycled paper; behind them a boy stirs the pulp in a bamboo basket in a stream. Sheets of paper on drying boards are seen at the left. The print’s upper portion includes two poems that resonate with the images below.
Color woodblock print; shikishiban surimono
7 7/8 x 7 1/8 in. (20 x 18.1 cm)
Purchased with funds from the Asian Art Council
2014.19.1
Provenance: Private collection, New York; [Sebastian Izzard, New York, New York, by 2014]
Image supplied by gallery