Image
Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重
Description
Maker
After Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重 (Japanese, 1797-1858, b. in Edo)
Title
Duck swimming under snow-laden reeds (Setchu ashi ni kamo)
Period
Year
Materials/Techniques
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Techniques
Materials
ink, colorSupports
Geography
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Place Made: Japan; Place Made: Tokyo
Dimensions
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Image: 33.3 x 15.9 cm (13 1/8 x 6 1/4 inches)
Signature / Inscription / Marks
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[text and poems] Kamo naku* ya (translates to) A duck calls softly; kaze fukishiwamu* (translates to) a breeze starts ripples moving mizu no omo (translates to) over the water (trans. Marks in Bogel) The Amsterdam cat. below remarks that the cat. of Museo Chiossone (1978, cat. no. 5) says that the poem is a haiku by Sugisaka Hyakumei (b. 1784).* Bogel transcribes the word as "naki" however "naku" is preferable. The word fukishimu is close to the word fukishiwamu which means to play the flute quietly or intently. A synthesis of more literal translations, such as that provided in the Amsterdam cat., can read:A duck cries- the blustering wind ripples the surface of the waterThe Japanese links the "crinkling" or "rippling" to the wind, perhaps to give the sense of the wind blowing this way and that, stirring the water in the process, rather than the sense of blowing onto the wind in one direction to cause the rippling. "Softly" does not appear in Japanese as it does in the Marks translation; the duck's call is evocative of the chill and loneliness although Marks points out that the Japanese does not find the duck's call abrasive. Kamo, duck, is a season word (kigo) of autumn.* transliteration changed from that given by Marks in Bogel
Signature: Hiroshige hitsu
Seals: Artist's seal | Fukuju Identification
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Edition
Edition: Later impressions have the seal of the publisher Sanoya Kihei in place of the artist's seal; this is a Meiji-period facsimile of the original in the collection (34.272) Credit / Object Number
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Credit
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Franco Preparata
Object Number
1999.81 Type
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