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

Add to portfolio

If you wish to reproduce this image, please submit an image request

Images

Label texts

Shattering the Void: Realms of Meaning in East Asian Art

Translation of inscription:
As rabbits run among
the clouds in mid-autumn,
the moonship will be finished.

Salina Art Center: Shattering the Void: Realms of Meaning in East Asian Art

Translation of inscription:
As rabbits run among
the clouds in mid-autumn,
the moonship will be finished.

This is a surimono, a type of print that was privately commissioned and often more elaborate than other commercially produced woodblock prints. Here, a tanuki, or Japanese raccoon dog, watches a rabbit build a boat by moonlight. This surimono may have been commissioned as an announcement or commemoration of a moon-viewing party in 1831, a Rabbit Year.

Archive Label:
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.