抱亭五清 「尺八 諸藝づくし」 より すりもの 江戸時代

This print depicting the shakuhachi, or bamboo flute, belongs to a series on the arts that was designed by Hōtei Gosei under the sponsorship of the Go-gawa, or Five Directions, poetry club. By the Edo period, the shakuhachi was almost exclusively associated with the monks of the Fuke sect of Zen Buddhism, who traveled around playing the instrument while wearing baskets over their heads to conceal their identities. The accompanying poem invokes a Kabuki character, Kakogawa Honzō, who adopted this Fuke custom after being shunned by the famous Forty-Seven Lordless Samurai. To emblematize Kakogawa’s perseverance, Gosei represents a waterfall-ascending koi along the length of the flute’s satchel, which drapes over the straw basket and is patterned with red fylfots, the emblem of the Go-gawa. In this literary context, the traditional theme of the koi’s efforts toward success becomes a puzzle of literary allusions.