badger and rabbit

Kita Busei, artist

1776–1856

Tatekawa Emba II, poet

badger and rabbit, 1831, Edo period (1600–1868)

Where object was made: Japan

Material/technique: color woodcut

Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 202 x 182 mm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 79 1/2 x 71 5/8 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 19 x 14 in

Credit line: William Bridges Thayer Memorial

Accession number: 0000.1569

Not on display

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The surimono depicts a story in which tanuki plays the part of a villain. The story involves revenge on the part of the hare for the murder of his mistress by the tanuki. The hare tricks the tanuki into sailing a clay boat, in which he drowned. In Busei's surimono, however, no reference is made to the brutality of the original story. Instead, the tanuki simply watches the hare finish his boat by moonlight. The accompanying poem reads: "As rabbits run among the clouds in mid-autun, the moonship will be finished." This surimono may have served as a announcement or commemoration of a moon-viewing party in 1831, a Rabbit Year.