『春雨集』　摺物帖窪俊満画　胡蝶舞の衣装|Spring Rain Collection (Harusame shū), vol. 2: Costume for the Butterfly Dance (Kochō no mai)

Kubo Shunman

1810s · Privately published woodblock prints (surimono) mounted in an album; ink and color on paper · Asian Art

Surimono are privately published woodblock prints, usually commissioned by individual poets or poetry groups as a form of New Year’s greeting card. The poems, most commonly kyōka (witty thirty-one syllable verse), inscribed on the prints usually include felicitous imagery connected with spring, which in the lunar calendar begins on the first day of the first month. Themes of surimono are often erudite, frequently alluding to Japanese literary classics in both texts and images. For the Butterfly Dance (Kochō no mai), performers don ornate crowns and colorful costumes resembling butterfly wings. Originally performed as a court dance (bugaku), the Butterfly Dance was eventually incorporated into the noh and kabuki repertoires.

Artist

Kubo Shunman

Date

1810s

Medium

Privately published woodblock prints (surimono) mounted in an album; ink and color on paper

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

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