Spring Rain Collection (Harusame shū), vol. 2: Costume for the Butterfly Dance (Kochō no mai)

Kubo Shunman Japanese
1810s
Not on view
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.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • 『春雨集』 摺物帖窪俊満画 胡蝶舞の衣装
  • Title: Spring Rain Collection (Harusame shū), vol. 2: Costume for the Butterfly Dance (Kochō no mai)
  • Artist: Kubo Shunman (Japanese, 1757–1820)
  • Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
  • Date: 1810s
  • Culture: Japan
  • Medium: Privately published woodblock prints (surimono) mounted in an album; ink and color on paper
  • Dimensions: 8 5/16 x 7 1/4 in. (21.1 x 18.4 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929
  • Object Number: JP2152
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art

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