Goddess Benten playing sugoroku with a child, by Utagawa Hiroshige

An image of Goddess Benten playing sugoroku with a child. Hiroshige, Utagawa (Japanese, 1797-1858). Surimono. Colour print from woodblocks, with metallic pigment and blind embossing. Probably 1821. Poetry by Fûgetsuan Yûshun and Wainandô. Ukiyo-e. Notes: Goddess Benten, one of the Seven Lucky Deities, is usually represented playing the biwa (lute), but here she is enjoying sugoroku, a traditional children’s game (similar to backgammon) played over the New Year holiday. The print was made for a sub-division of the Nogawa poetry group (the group’s symbol in the upper right corner differs slightly from the Nogawa’s) for the year of the snake, the Goddess’s messenger. Hiroshige is best known for his landscape prints and made only a small number of surimono; but he did design many illustrations for anthologies of kyoka verse. This print was made for the Noichi poetry club.

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Goddess Benten playing sugoroku with a child. Hiroshige, Utagawa (Japanese, 1797-1858). Surimono. Colour print from woodblocks, with metallic pigment and blind embossing. Probably 1821. Poetry by Fûgetsuan Yûshun and Wainandô. Ukiyo-e. Notes: Goddess Benten, one of the Seven Lucky Deities, is usually represented playing the biwa (lute), but here she is enjoying sugoroku, a traditional children’s game (similar to backgammon) played over the New Year holiday. The print was made for a sub-division of the Nogawa poetry group (the group’s symbol in the upper right corner differs slightly from the Nogawa’s) for the year of the snake, the Goddess’s messenger. Hiroshige is best known for his landscape prints and made only a small number of surimono; but he did design many illustrations for anthologies of kyoka verse. This print was made for the Noichi poetry club.

Image data

Accession Number: P.346-1937
Photograph copyright © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
Photographer name: Andrew Morris
Image height: 1025 pixels
Image width: 888 pixels
Processed with: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.0 (Windows)
Filesize: 799.94kB

Key words

19th Century Benten blind embossing board games child children colour printing costume deities deity embossed embossing female Fitz_PDP game games goddess Goddess Benten gods gofun Hiroshige infants Japanese karazuri metallic pigment pigment playing poetry poets print seated sitting sugoroku surimono ukiyo-e Utagawa Hiroshige verses woman woodblock woodcut

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            The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025)
            "Goddess Benten playing sugoroku with a child, by Utagawa Hiroshige"
            Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/image/media-218452 Accessed: 2025-12-26 15:05:32

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            |title=Goddess Benten playing sugoroku with a child, by Utagawa Hiroshige
            |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-12-26 15:05:32|publisher=The
            University of Cambridge}}

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