A Flowering Arrowroot Plant

Artist Kitao Masayoshi (Japanese, 1764–1824)

Datecommissioned for a New Year, ca. early 1820s

MediumColor woodblock print

Dimensions10 1/16 × 8 3/8 inches (25.6 × 21.3 cm)

ClassificationsPrints

Credit LineGift of Joanna Haab Schoff, Class of 1955

Terms

Surimono
Color woodblock print
Poetry
Plants
Japanese

Object number2011.017.023

Label CopyHagakure ni As for that fragrance Niou wa kuzu no Hidden in the leaves Hana mo min It seems to be the arrowroot flower Ura fuki kaese Blown back by Tsuki no shita kaze The wind below the moon —Shunkai This highly unusual, painterly surimono by Kuwagata Keisai (better known in ukiyo-e as Kitao Masayoshi) seems initially to be more closely related to haikai surimono. The style is quite similar to the kind of literati, nanga-influenced haikai surimono being made at this time in the Kamigata region of Kyoto-Osaka. The printing style emphasizes light, translucent pigments, without key-block lines or the metallic pigments almost obligatory on kyo ¯ka works in the 1820s. This piece, however, does contain extensive embossing, with the shape of the moon smoothed out of crepe paper, and represented without printed lines. And the verse inscribed is a kyo ¯ka, albeit one with the subtlety of the image itself. The leaves of the kuzu plant, appearing as a light green, are white when turned over, as by the wind here, leading to the expression ura-mi, literally “look to the rear” but homophonous with “bitterness” or “anger.” These elements hint at the story of the fox spirit Kuzunoha (literally “Arrowroot leaves”), who, concealing her true nature, married the courtier Abe no Yasuna, bearing him a son with supernatural powers. Unable to remain in human form forever, though, Kuzunoha gradually transformed back into a fox one moonlit night, ultimately inscribing a farewell poem on a screen with a brush clenched in her teeth, as her hands had turned to paws. The poem suggested that her husband look for her in the kuzu leaves of the Shinoda forest, suggesting her bitterness at being unable to continue her human life.

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