A female musician playing a biwa at a cherry blossom viewing party, by Yashima Gakutei

An image of Surimono pentaptych. A female musician playing a biwa (lute) at a cherry blossom viewing party. Gakutei, Yashima (Japanese printmaker, 1786(?)-1868). Colour print from woodblocks, with metallic pigment and blind embossing,circa 1827-circa 1829. Poetry by Ikkokutei Senkin, Hisakataya, Kamenoya Osamaru, Gachoan Michitane, Suihotei Komatsu, Seikaitei Kamendo and Hanamitei Tokiwa. Ukiyo-e.
Notes: This pentaptych, which is very rare as a complete set, was commissioned by the Hisakataya poetry group. The five musicians, dressed in virtually identical kimono and obi (sash) are playing (from the right) a drum, koto (zither), biwa (lute), sho (chinese pipes) and flute. In the background is stretched a decorative curtain to protect the blossom-viewers’s privacy. Blossom is falling onto the red carpet on which the musicians kneel. The poems read: ‘Poem slips dance in the wind with the music beneath the cherry trees in the hills of Yoshino.’ (Gachoan Michitane); ‘Spring wind sweeps away two or three cherry blossoms from the carpet as the lute plays.’ (Hisakataya); ‘In a cloud of flowers on a spring field: a flute, a drum, a zither, dandelions and horsetails.’ (Kamenoya Osamaru); ‘The cold strains of the jewelled zither turn into a storm and drive the snow of fallen flowers into the hands beneath the tree.’ (Hisakataya); ‘The drumsticks see the cherry blossoms: one piece of their music takes away the drunkenness of the flower-viewing wine.’ (Ikkokutei Senkin); ‘Two butterflies, awakened from their sleep by the music of the flowers play on a spring day.’ (Hisakataya).

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Surimono pentaptych. A female musician playing a biwa (lute) at a cherry blossom viewing party. Gakutei, Yashima (Japanese printmaker, 1786(?)-1868). Colour print from woodblocks, with metallic pigment and blind embossing,circa 1827-circa 1829. Poetry by Ikkokutei Senkin, Hisakataya, Kamenoya Osamaru, Gachoan Michitane, Suihotei Komatsu, Seikaitei Kamendo and Hanamitei Tokiwa. Ukiyo-e. Notes: This pentaptych, which is very rare as a complete set, was commissioned by the Hisakataya poetry group. The five musicians, dressed in virtually identical kimono and obi (sash) are playing (from the right) a drum, koto (zither), biwa (lute), sho (chinese pipes) and flute. In the background is stretched a decorative curtain to protect the blossom-viewers’s privacy. Blossom is falling onto the red carpet on which the musicians kneel. The poems read: ‘Poem slips dance in the wind with the music beneath the cherry trees in the hills of Yoshino.’ (Gachoan Michitane); ‘Spring wind sweeps away two or three cherry blossoms from the carpet as the lute plays.’ (Hisakataya); ‘In a cloud of flowers on a spring field: a flute, a drum, a zither, dandelions and horsetails.’ (Kamenoya Osamaru); ‘The cold strains of the jewelled zither turn into a storm and drive the snow of fallen flowers into the hands beneath the tree.’ (Hisakataya); ‘The drumsticks see the cherry blossoms: one piece of their music takes away the drunkenness of the flower-viewing wine.’ (Ikkokutei Senkin); ‘Two butterflies, awakened from their sleep by the music of the flowers play on a spring day.’ (Hisakataya).

Image data

Accession Number: P.337-1937
Photograph copyright © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
Aperture: f/22.0
Focal length: 120
Camera: Hasselblad H4D-31
Photographer name: Katie Young
Image height: 1025 pixels
Image width: 911 pixels
Processed with: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.0 (Windows)
Filesize: 1.00MB
Exposure time: 1/60
ISO Speed: 100
Fnumber: 22/1
Captured: 2015:12:16 11:38:57

Key words

19th Century biwa blind embossing blossom cherry blossom colour printing costume embossed fashion fashionable female Fitz_PDP Gakutei hair hairstyle Japanese karazuri kimono lutanist lute music musical instruments musician obi party pentaptych poem poetry poets print sash seated sitting stringed instrument surimono tree blossom ukiyo-e woman woodblock woodcut Yashima Gakutei

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            "A female musician playing a biwa at a cherry blossom viewing party, by Yashima Gakutei"
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