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Nagayama Kōin

Tortoise Carrying the Isle of the Immortals on His Back, mid-1820s

Description

Maker

Title

Tortoise Carrying the Isle of the Immortals on His Back

Year

mid-1820s

Medium

Privately commissioned woodblock print (surimono)

Materials/Techniques

Materials

Techniques

Supports

Dimensions

Length: 21.9 cm (8 5/8 inches)

Place

Japan

Type

Credit

Gift of George Pierce Metcalf

Object Number

56.039.55

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Prints for the Japanese New Year

December 17, 2010 - April 17, 2011

The Japanese have a saying that “the crane lives for a thousand years and the tortoise for ten thousand.” The long-tailed turtle, the cranes perched on top of the Isle of the Immortals (Hōrai), and the isle itself all convey the conventional New Year’s wish for long life. Poems inscribed on the print and composed by Horikawa Utanari, Ki no Tsukunari (active 1820s) and Tsurunoya Osamaru (ca. 1751–ca. 1839) also contain allusions to the New Year.

Marking the Occasion

February 3 - May 28, 2006

The Japanese have a saying that “the crane lives for a thousand years and the tortoise for ten thousand.” The long-tailed turtle, the cranes perched on top of the Isle of the Immortals (Hōrai), and the isle itself all convey the conventional New Year’s wish for long life.

Marking the Occasion

September 15 - December 3, 2000

The Japanese have a saying that “the crane lives for a thousand years and the tortoise for ten thousand.” The turtle, the cranes perched on top of the Isle of the Immortals (Hōrai), and the isle itself all convey the conventional New Year wish for long life.

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in the public domain (CC0 1.0). This object is Tortoise Carrying the Isle of the Immortals on His Back with the accession number of 56.039.55. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.