Untitled

Katsushika Hokusai

1820–33 · Woodblock print (surimono); ink and color on paper · Asian Art

This surimono New Year's card depicts a mystical Buddhist bird (karyōbinga in Japanese; kalavinca in Sanskrit) characterized by a bird's body and a human head. It is said that one can never tire of listening to the creature's heavenly music. The New Year's poems were inscribed by Nikyō and Kokusui. Hokusai's signature reads Hokusai aratame Iitsu ("Hokusai changed to Iitsu"). The work is from the artist's very productive Iitsu period (ca. 1820–33).

Artist

Katsushika Hokusai

Date

1820–33

Medium

Woodblock print (surimono); ink and color on paper

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929