Three Crabs at Water’s Edge Artist: Yashima Gakutei (Japanese, ca. 1786–1868)

ca. 1827

Asian Art

By appointment, Duffy Study Room

八島岳亭　水際の蟹　江戸時代


The undulating curves of the waves in this print, dusted with mica, catch the light and reflect a metallic blue sheen. The three crabs on the shore, which have come out to see the first sunrise of the year, are a hallmark of the poet Bunbunsha Kanikomaru, whose pen name contains the word for “crab” (kani). Bunbunsha, who wrote the second poem on this print, studied poetry under the samurai poet Ōta Nanpo, who headed one of the so-called Three Great Houses of kyōka poetry, the Yamanote-ren (Uptown Club). The first poem is by Ichikawa Danjūrō VII. Prints with poems by these two men were often issued as keepsakes of the boisterous gatherings known as kyōkai, which featured poetic improvisation and competition and offered an opportunity for artists and poets, patrons and friends, to mix across the boundaries of class and occupation.

Medium

Surimono, shikishi-ban; polychrome woodblock print with mica and gauffrage

Dimensions

image: 8 7/8 × 7 3/16 in. (22.54 × 18.26 cm)

Credit Line

Promised gift of Virginia Shawan Drosten and Patrick Kenadjian, B.A. 1970

Loan number

ILE2017.30.264

Geography

Japan

Culture

Japanese

Period

Edo period (1615–1868)

Classification

Prints

Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Provenance
Joan B. Mirviss (dealer), New York; sold to Virginia Shawan Drosten and Patrick Kenadjian, Koenigstein im Taunus, Germany, 2016, (on loan to the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn., 2017–present)
Bibliography
  • Sadako Ohki and Adam Haliburton, The Private World of Surimono: Japanese Prints from the Virginia Shawan Drosten and Patrick Kenadjian Collection (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2020), 70–71, no. 13, ill
Object copyright
No Copyright - United States
Additional information

Object/Work type

color woodcuts, surimono

Inscriptions

Two poems: first by Shichidaime Sansho (Ichikawa Danjuro VII):\r\nWe went to the salty seaside to watch the first sunrise, but mist rolled in with the pace of a crab.\r\nAnd second by Bunbunsha:\r\nEven the river crab hesitates at the sight of the open sea, and it heads quietly towards the beach, the wide stretch of a sandy road. \r\n\r\nTranslated by Matthei Forrer\r\n\r\nThe second poem can be translated as follows from the new reading.\r\n\r\nFreshwater crab, too, pass through the rush at year's end without fret; \r\ntake your time picking a path among the sands of the strand. \r\n\r\n(by Adam H. 10-23-2017)\r\n者つ日可け　見んと天いづる 塩者満尓　蟹のあゆ三の 可春三引介り　\r\n 七代目三升\r\n\r\n沢蟹も　としの灘をは　こゆる起の　いそ可てひろへ　者満の真砂路\r\n 文々舎　\r\n\r\n\r\n口語： 初日影　見んとて　出る塩浜に　蟹の歩みの　霞引きけり\r\n 沢蟹も　年の灘をば　小余綾の　急(磯)がで拾え　浜の真砂路\r\n\r\n小余綾（こゆるぎ）の＝磯にかかる枕言葉 Also to "pass" the old year 越ゆる（機会）; another meaning ゆるゆると means without rushing.\r\n\r\nHatsuhikage/ min to te izuru/ shiohama ni/ kani no ayumi no/ kasumi hiki keri\r\n\r\nSawagani mo/ toshi no nada wo ba/ koyurugi no/ isoga de hiroe/ hama no masagoji

Signed

Gakutei

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