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Comical Warriors: New Year's Rice Cakes for the Reign of Our Lord (Dôke musha miyo no wakamochi)


「道外武者御代の若餅」
Utagawa Yoshitora (Japanese, active about 1836–1887)
Publisher: Sawaya Kôkichi (Japanese)
Japanese
Edo period
1849 (Kaei 2), intercalary 4th month

Medium/Technique Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
Dimensions Vertical ôban; 35 × 24 cm (13 3/4 × 9 7/16 in.)
Credit Line William Sturgis Bigelow Collection
Accession Number11.39731
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsPrints

Catalogue Raisonné Ôta Mem. Mus., Warau ukiyo-e (2013), #189; Marks, Japanese Woodblock Prints (2010), p. 147; Minami, Edo no fûshiga (1997), p. 169, fig. 41; Thompson & Harootunian, Undercurrents (1991), fig. 40; Miyao, Nihon no giga (1967), p. 148
DescriptionMFA impressions: 11.39729, 11.39730, 11.39731 (first ed., with seals), 11.39732 (first ed., with seals), 11.39737, 11.41423
Signed Konomi ni tsuki Ichimôsai Yoshitora ga
好ニ付 一猛斎芳虎画
Marks Censors' seals: Mera, Murata
No blockcutter's mark
改印:米良、村田
彫師:なし
InscriptionsPoem: Kimi ga yo o/ tsukikatametari/ haru no mochi
「君が代をつきかためたり春のもち」
ProvenanceBy 1911, purchased by William Sturgis Bigelow (b. 1850–d. 1926), Boston [see note 1]; 1911, gift of Bigelow to the MFA. (Accession Date: January 19, 2005)

NOTES:
[1] Much of Bigelow's collection of Asian art was formed during his residence in Japan between 1882 and 1889, although he also made acquisitions in Europe and the United States. Bigelow deposited many of these objects at the MFA in 1890 before donating them to the Museum's collection at later dates.