…; purchased from the dealer Kunsthandel Huys den Esch, Dodewaard, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1989;¹¹Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 48, cat. no. 103 by whom donated to the museum, 1991

Object number: RP-P-1991-659

Credit line: Gift of J.H.W. Goslings, Epse

The Teikin orai is a classical guide to letter writing, intended to serve both as an aid in writing characters as well as help master compositional style. It is attributed to the monk Genne (d. 1350). As so many series based on literary sources, it is uncertain how many designs were in the original series.

It is quite likely that this series was designed for the same poetry group that commissioned A Series of Three on the Theme of Bravery and Valour from Japan and China for the Kumanyaren, Kumanyaren - Waken buyu awase sanban no uchi, from Hokusai in 1820 (see Keyes).²²Keyes, Roger S., Surimono: Privately Published Japanese Prints in the Spencer Museum of Art. Tokyo/New York: Kodansha International Ltd., 1984, p. 109.

For others in the series, see:
Karasumaru no eboshi: Still life of court-caps and a fan - NME, Leiden, 1353-1923³³Fujisawa Morihiko korekushon surimono o chuushin to shite (The Fujisawa Morihiko Collection: with a Stress on Surimono) Tokyo: Ota Memorial Museum of Art, 1998, p. 57., MFA 11.20027
Still life of various fans -⁴⁴Fujisawa Morihiko korekushon surimono o chuushin to shite (The Fujisawa Morihiko Collection: with a Stress on Surimono) Tokyo: Ota Memorial Museum of Art, 1998, p. 18.
Okushu no kin: Fabric, box with brushes, and golden pipe - MFA 11.20029.

A smoking set consisting of a pipe holder with metal fittings that is probably meant to be tucked into a sash with a small brocade tobacco pouch attached to it, a coral bead, ojime, keeping the bag closed. Behind it two turnips.

Turnips from Higashiyama, Higashiyarna no kabura, from the series The Home Precepts for Correspondence, Teikin orai.

The pipe holder, kiseruzutsu, is of an extremely luxurious type, which has led to it being identified by some as a dagger or even a short sword, but not even a woman's dagger would fit into a sheath this small. The turnip leaves are printed without the use of a line-block.

Three poems by Kashakutei Aigaki, Harunoya Hajime and Kumanya [or Soramitsuya? (Tagaki)] Maeda. The first two poems are rather unconventional and not very informative.

Maeda's poem reads:
It must have eaten Higashiyama turnips - the voice of the warbler in our garden sounds so full every morning

Higashiyama is a mountain east of Kyoto.

Issued by the Yomogawa
Signature reading: Shinsai
Produced by the Ryusai [Chimatal Studio]

M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 357

M. Forrer, 2013, 'Ryûryûkyo Shinsai, A Smoking Set and Turnips, Japan, c. 1815 - c. 1820', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200415811