Comment - Surimono print of a beauty teasing a young boy, poking at him with a small rake as he clamps his hands to his ears to "hear no evil." Another woman hurries behind, admonishing her companion and waving her hand in a stopping motion. Boats can be seen on the river behind them, with shops and a daimyo's palace lining the far shore and four Edo-kites ("Edo-tako", "江戸凧"), and a Yakko ("奴凧, "yakko-dako") or man kite fluttering overhead. Beautifully detailed with delicate embossing in the kimono patterns and the rippling water, along with silver and gold mica. An intriguing design, also to be seen in several world known museums.


Surimono - Surimonos are an exclusive subcategory of Japanese woodblock prints. Poetry clubs or other kind of cultural societies commissioned these designs for distribution to a small audience of members, most often as New Year's greetings. These privately published images included a wonderful range of subjects and lavish printing techniques such as embossing, burnishing, and metallic pigments. Since surimono were not sold commercially, the print runs were very small and original Edo era surimono are incredibly rare.

This surimono is one out of three from a series that illustrates the common proverb "Hear no Evil", "Speak no Evil", "See no Evil", often depicted with the "Wise Three Monkeys". There is a comparable series made by Ryûryûkyo Shinsai, from (1810 - 1825).


Series - See no Evil, Speak no Evil and Hear no Evil (Mizaru, Kikazaru, Iwazaru, 見ざる, 聞かざる, 言わざる)


Artist - see Biography


Signature -  none (Surimono); small seal on reverse


Publisher - small stylized seal on reverse reading Tadayoshi (忠喜) (exlibris, publisher?)


Image Size - 20.6 x 18.4 cm (8 1/8" x 7 1/4")


Condition - single sheet, nishiki-e (cloured woodblock); Surimono; ink, color, metallic pigment and embossing on paper.