Page 95 - Christies Japanese and Korean Art Sept 22 2020 NYC

67
SUZUKI HARUNOBU (1725-1770)
Pleasure boating
Woodblock print, unsigned, published circa 1767
Vertical chuban: 10√ x 8¿ in. (27.6 x 20.6 cm.)
$15,000-20,000

Another impression of the same print is in the collection of the
Arthur M. Sackler Museum, object number 1933.4.2630.

68
SUZUKI HARUNOBU (1725-1770)
Girl with a branch of yamabuki: mitate of Ota Dokan
Woodblock print, unsigned, published circa 1766-67
Vertical chuban: 11¿ x 8Ω in. (28.3 x 21.6 cm.)
$15,000-20,000

A young girl wearing a pink kimono decorated with irises steps
out of a doorway into heavy rainfall. In her hand is a branch of
yamabuki which alludes to the story of Ota Dokan, a 15th century
warrior who, caught in rain whilst hunting, went to a small cottage
and asked a young girl for a raincoat and was frustrated to be
offered a branch of yamabuki instead. This was reference to a 10th
century poem: nanae yae / hana wa sakedomo / yamabuki no / mi no
hitotsu dani / naki zo kanashiki (Although its flowers/ may bloom
seven or eight times / the yamabuki / never puts out any fruit: / a
matter for grief indeed!). Dokan was supposed to have picked up on
the pun of mi no (fruit of) and mino (straw raincoat), resulting in the
end of the poem reading "I regret that I have no raincoat". Later
he was so ashamed by his lack of culture that he decided to study
the classics. See David Waterhouse, The Harunobu Decade, (The
Netherlands, 2013), p.53.
The same print is in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts
Boston, accession no. 21.4615, and Arthur M. Sackler Museum,
accession no. 1933.4.2647.