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Maker(s):Totoya Hokkei
Culture:Japanese (1780–1850)
Title:Flying Plum (Tobiume) from the series "Series for the Hanazono Group (Hanazono bantsuzuki)"
Date Made:1823
Type:Print
Materials:woodblock print (surimono); ink and color on paper with mica dust and embossing
Place Made:Asia; Japan; Edo
Measurements:sheet: 8 3/16 in x 7 3/16 in ; 20.8 cm x 18.3 cm
Accession Number:  AC 1990.39
Credit Line:Gift of William Green
Museum Collection:  Mead Art Museum at Amherst College
1990_39.jpg

Description:
A carp in a fishing net and a wooden carving of a bullfinch used for the usokae (bullfinch exchange) festival at the Kameido Tenjin Shrine in Tokyo on the 25th day of the first month. In the background, mochi rice sweets strung on a willow branch (mochibana), a New Year's decoration. On the right, a vertical panel with the series title on a light blue border next to white plum blossoms and a Chinese poem. One kyōka poetry verse by Senkakudō Sakae. Signed Hokkei with a seal of collector Hayashi Tadamasa.

Label Text:
This print features plum blossoms, a traditional winter flower, and a wooden bullfinch toy, visible at lower-right, representative of the usokae, the “bullfinch exchange,” a ceremony that takes place each January, in which participants swap an old bullfinch toy for a new one at Shinto shrines. The word for bullfinch, “uso,” is a homophone for “lies,” so the ritual is meant to shed the falsehoods of the previous year, exchanging them for truth. If very lucky, one may receive a golden bullfinch, an auspicious sign for a prosperous and happy new year. The usokae became very popular in Edo starting around 1820.
- BB, ed., 2015

Tags:
fish; fishing; branches; flowers; text; movement

Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=AC+1990.39

Research on objects in the collections, including provenance, is ongoing and may be incomplete. If you have additional information or would like to learn more about a particular object, please email fc-museums-web@fivecolleges.edu.

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