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Yosa Buson

Rock ptarmigans and pine (Matsu ni raicho)

Maker

Yosa Buson (Japanese)
Iwataya Kisaburo (Japanese), publisher

Title

Rock ptarmigans and pine (Matsu ni raicho)

Period

Edo (Japanese period)

Year

1810s

Medium

  • Monochrome woodblock print

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • Monochrome woodblock print

Materials

ink, color

Supports

  • paper

Geography

Place Made: Japan; Place Made: Tokyo

Dimensions

Sheet: 34.1 x 22.2 cm (13 7/16 x 8 3/4 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Inscription above and below.
[text and poems]
Shirayama no/matsu no kokage ni/kakuroi te/yasura ni sumeru/rai no tori kana
On Mount Shirayama grouse live peacefully in the shadows of the pines

Poem by retired Emperor Gotoba
The mountain is close to Shirayama Shrine. Grouse (or rock ptarmigan) are white in winter, brown in summer. Shirayama means "white (shira) mountain (yama)" which may also allude to their winter white feathers.

Signature: Katsukawa Shunsei ga

Seals: Censor's seal | kiwame

Identification

Edition

An earlier edition without color and with censor's seal and signature of 34.448.2.

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

Object Number

34.448.1

Type

  • Prints

Exhibition History

Black on White
Monochromatic Japanese Prints
Dec 08, 2000 – Mar 04, 2001

Label copy

This print was probably made in the second decade of the nineteenth century, based on the evidence of its censor’s seals. The color-printed version to the right, which appears to have been made soon after the monochrome print, points to the possibility that prints sometimes were produced in both monochrome and polychrome versions.

Related Objects

Isoda Koryūsai 礒田湖龍斎

Rock ptarmigan and pine (Matsu ni raicho), Edo (Japanese period)

Yosa Buson

Rock ptarmigans and pine (Matsu ni raicho), Edo Period

More objects +

Image use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use.

Public Domain This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Yosa Buson (Japanese)
Iwataya Kisaburo (Japanese), publisher
Rock ptarmigans and pine (Matsu ni raicho), 1810s
Monochrome woodblock print
Sheet: 34.1 x 22.2 cm (13 7/16 x 8 3/4 inches)
Gift of Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. 34.448.1

To request new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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