Kinutagai (The fulling-block shell)

1821

Japanese, 1760 - 1849

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

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Boundless: Stories of Asian Art, Feb. 8, 2020 - ongoing [on view Nov. 5 - Dec. 12, 2021].

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