Shibata Zeshin
Japanese, 1807-1891
Memorial Surimono
INV-4379
Shibata Zeshin
Japanese, 1807-18912nd month, 1883
Memorial Surimono
Shibata Zeshin Japanese, 1807-1891 →Japanese (culture or style)woodblock printprint
Date
2nd month, 1883
Medium
Color woodblock print; surimono
Dimensions
58.2 × 44.5 cm (22 15/16 × 17 9/16 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Charles H. Mitchell Collection unrestricted gift
This memorial print was created to commemorate the seven-year anniversary of Sasaki Chikuju, a little-known haiku poet from Osaka. Memorial prints such as this became common in the mid- to late 19th century because they served as a visually pleasing way for poets, public figures, and those with cultural interests to remember a departed friend or teacher. These prints became an extension of the memorial service, a way for distant people to honor the deceased in words; here 202 people wrote commemorative poems. Such prints were also given to the participants at the memorial service.
The host of the print (and probably also the memorial service) was Sasaki Ippu, a son of the departed Chikuju. Another person, who called himself Chikufu Koji and was possibly a teacher of both father and son, wrote the title of the inscriptions at the upper right.
Also notable
Works in the same vein
Komurasaki of the Miuraya and Shirai Gompachi (Miuraya Komurasaki, Shirai Gompachi)
Kitagawa Utamaro 喜多川 歌麿 Japanese, c.1753-1806
Hamamatsu, from the series "Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido (Tokaido gojusan tsugi)," also known as the Tokaido with Poem (Kyoka iri Tokaido)
Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川 広重 Japanese, 1797-1858
Mitsuke: Ferries Crossing the Tenryu River (Mitsuke, Tenryugawa funawatashi), from the series "Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido (Tokaido gojusan tsugi)," also known as the Tokaido with Poem (Kyoka iri Tokaido)
Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川 広重 Japanese, 1797-1858
