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Paper short abstract:

'Shijō' surimono, with poems and adorning pictures by artists in the lineage of Maruyama and Shijō schools, are extant in large quantities, mostly underexplored. This paper will address the question of how we can include this large group of prints in discourses on late Edo-period art and culture.

Paper long abstract:

Surimono (privately issued prints) are well known as New Year calendars (egoyomi) perfected by Suzuki Harunobu and others in mid-18th century Edo, and as elaborate prints recording kyōka poems and pictures by celebrated artists such as Katsushika Hokusai and Kubo Shunman.

There is another substantial but lesser-known genre of surimono - so-called 'Shijō' surimono, which continued from the late 18th century until well into the Meiji era, accommodating pictures made largely by artists in the lineage of the Shijō and Maruyama schools active in Kyoto and Osaka. Some are famous - Yosa Buson, Goshun (Matsumura Gekkei) and Matsumura Keibun but many minor artists are also included. Haikai poems are more common than kyōka. Who are these poets, what are these groups, what are their relationships with the artists, how and on what occasions were these surimono produced, how did people meet and collaborate? These fundamental questions can only be answered by analysing first-hand the thousands of extant 'Shijō' surimono.

A new project is progressing in collaboration between the British Museum and Ritsumeikan University Art Research Center, Kyoto, on creating a database of the large collection of 'Shijo' surimono in the British Museum. The plan is first to digitise the surimono and haisho books, and then to transcribe the names - poets and artists usually listed by their art name (gō/haimyō) - and any other additional information such as dates, occasion, place of origin, age and gender where available. The poems themselves will be given secondary priority for the sake of efficiency to record and analyse relationships and networks. Geography covered will likely be wider than Kyoto, Osaka and neighbouring regions. Haikai was a tool that connected individuals across Japan in the late Edo period, and artists provided not just images but also poems in some cases.

This paper will discuss the above project and some of the initial findings through analysis, and whether it supports or negates the common assumption that individuals from various social background - courtiers, samurai, priests, merchants, farmers, performers, women etc. - participated in these poetry/art circles.