painted screen, miniature tree, decorative bow and arrows, Ryūryūkyo Shinsai

Archive Label date unknown: These three prints are examples of surimono, privately published woodblock prints popular in Japan in the early 1800s. Most surimono were commissioned by poets as New Year's gifts for their friends. The prints celebrated the return of spring and the renewal of life at the begining of the year. The right print depicts a characteristic theme of surimono- beautiful women engaged in a domestic activity associated with the New Year. Here, two women make New Year's ornaments before a screen painting of Mount Fuji, one of three important New Year's images. In the middle print, the artist has assembled objects in a delicate composition: a painted screen, a miniature potted plum tree with tiny blossoms signaling spring, and a decorative set of a bow and arrows that is presented to boys at the New Year. In the left print, a woman dressed in a historic costume lies beside jars in which incense burns to induce a deeper sleep, thus insuring good dreams. As the three poems above her tell us, it is New Year's Eve and she dreams auspiciously of Mount Fuji and of the coming spring.