Monkey trainer with a monkey at the New Year

COLLECTION NAME:

The AMICA Library

mediaCollectionId

AMICO~1~1

The AMICA Library

Collection

true

AMICA ID:

AIC_.1968.329

amicoid

AIC_.1968.329

AMICA ID

false

AMICA Library Year:

1999

aly

1999

AMICA Library Year

false

Object Type:

Prints

oty

Prints

Object Type

false

Creator Name:

Kishi Bunsho

crn

Kishi Bunsho

Creator Name

false

Creator Nationality:

Asian; Far East Asian; Japanese

crc

Asian; Far East Asian; Japanese

Creator Nationality

false

Creator Dates/Places:

Japanese; 1754-1796 Asia,East Asia,Japan

cdt

Japanese; 1754-1796 Asia,East Asia,Japan

Creator Dates/Places

false

Creator Name-CRT:

Kishi Bunsho

crt

Kishi Bunsho

Creator Name-CRT

false

Title:

Monkey trainer with a monkey at the New Year

otn

Monkey trainer with a monkey at the New Year

Title

false

Title Type:

preferred

ott

preferred

Title Type

false

View:

full view

rid

full view

View

false

Creation Date:

Edo period, ca. 1780s

oct

Edo period, ca. 1780s

Creation Date

false

Creation Start Date:

1780

ocs

1780

Creation Start Date

false

Creation End Date:

1780

oce

1780

Creation End Date

false

Materials and Techniques:

Woodblock print.

omd

Woodblock print.

Materials and Techniques

false

Classification Term:

Woodblock

clt

Woodblock

Classification Term

false

Subject Description:

Printed entirely in shades of red ink, this print would have been purchased as a household talisman against smallpox. The type was known as red picture (aka-e), or smallpox picture (hoso-e). It may well have been sold door-to-door at the New Year holiday by the very monkey trainer shown in the print. The monkey is dressed for the auspicious New Year Sambaso dance and carries a drum, and his trainer wears a similarly festive costume and carries a branch of bamboo to decorate a gateway. Hanging from the fan he waves is a long, narrow poem card (tanzaku) inscribed with a surprisingly lighthearted poem linking the dancing monkey, smallpox lesions, and red and white plum blossoms, which bloom about New Year:Ume no hanakazoete mirebayotsu itsutsuakaku shirokiwasaru no manzaiFlowers of the plum-Let's count them and see:Four, five [smallpox],Red and white likeThe costume of the dancing monkey!The short poem above the figures (probably by Bunsho) is more of a straightforward plea:Waga yado wahoso karushiume no hanaIn our homeMay the smallpox be light:Flower of the plum!It is followed by yet another popular incantation against sickness: 'Sasara sampachi!' A smallpox epidemic is known to have hit Edo in the year 1782, so the print may have been issued at the New Year of 1782 or 1783.1 The block cutting and printing are fairly crude, as befits a piece of ephemera. ('The Actor's Image', 1994)

sup

Printed entirely in shades of red ink, this print would have been purchased as a household talisman against smallpox. The type was known as red picture (aka-e), or smallpox picture (hoso-e). It may well have been sold door-to-door at the New Year holiday by the very monkey trainer shown in the print. The monkey is dressed for the auspicious New Year Sambaso dance and carries a drum, and his trainer wears a similarly festive costume and carries a branch of bamboo to decorate a gateway. Hanging from the fan he waves is a long, narrow poem card (tanzaku) inscribed with a surprisingly lighthearted poem linking the dancing monkey, smallpox lesions, and red and white plum blossoms, which bloom about New Year:Ume no hanakazoete mirebayotsu itsutsuakaku shirokiwasaru no manzaiFlowers of the plum-Let's count them and see:Four, five [smallpox],Red and white likeThe costume of the dancing monkey!The short poem above the figures (probably by Bunsho) is more of a straightforward plea:Waga yado wahoso karushiume no hanaIn our homeMay the smallpox be light:Flower of the plum!It is followed by yet another popular incantation against sickness: 'Sasara sampachi!' A smallpox epidemic is known to have hit Edo in the year 1782, so the print may have been issued at the New Year of 1782 or 1783.1 The block cutting and printing are fairly crude, as befits a piece of ephemera. ('The Actor's Image', 1994)

Subject Description

false

Creation Place:

Asia,East Asia,Japan

ocp

Asia,East Asia,Japan

Creation Place

false

Dimensions:

Hosoban; 29.3 x 14.9 cm11 5/8" x 7 5/8"

met

Hosoban; 29.3 x 14.9 cm11 5/8" x 7 5/8"

Dimensions

false

AMICA Contributor:

The Art Institute of Chicago

oon

The Art Institute of Chicago

AMICA Contributor

false

Owner Location:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

oop

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Owner Location

false

ID Number:

1968.329

ooa

1968.329

ID Number

false

Credit Line:

The Art Institute of Chicago, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harold G. Henderson

ooc

The Art Institute of Chicago, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harold G. Henderson

Credit Line

false

Inscriptions:

SIGNATURE Kishi Bunsho ga

oin

SIGNATURE Kishi Bunsho ga

Inscriptions

false

Rights:

http://www.artic.edu/aic/rights/main.rights.html

orl

<a href="http://www.artic.edu/aic/rights/main.rights.html"target="_new">http://www.artic.edu/aic/rights/main.rights.html</a>

Rights

false

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Monkey trainer with a monkey at the New Year