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On the 8th Day of the 5th Month, People Born in Earth and Water Signs Enter a Lucky Cycle (Gogatsu yôka dosuisei uke ni iru): Lucky Things That Start with "Fu"


「五月八日土水情うけニ入」
Utagawa Hiroshige II (Shigenobu) (Japanese, 1826–1869)
Publisher: Tsujiokaya Bunsuke (Kinshôdô) (Japanese)
Japanese
Edo period
1858 (Ansei 5), 3rd month

Medium/Technique Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
Dimensions Vertical ôban; 35 x 24.3 cm (13 3/4 x 9 9/16 in.)
Credit Line William Sturgis Bigelow Collection
Accession Number11.22776
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsPrints

DescriptionMFA impressions: 11.22776, 11.26459

The picture shows lucky things that start with "fu." Clockwise from the top: Fuji no yama (Mount Fuji), Fukusuke (Lucky Man), fude (brush), fûrin (wind bell), furoshiki (cloth wrapper), fumi (letter), Fukujo (Lucky Woman).
According to yin-yang divination (onmyôdô), luck followed a cycle of seven good years and then five bad years, according to one's year of birth. The ages of people in each category are listed.
Signed Shigenobu gihitsu
重宣戯筆
Marks Censor's seal: Horse 3
No blockcutter's mark
改印:午三
彫師:なし
ProvenanceBy 1911, purchased by William Sturgis Bigelow (b. 1850 - d. 1926), Boston [see note 1]; 1911, gift of Bigelow to the MFA. (Accession Date: August 3, 1911)

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.