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Darkness Is But a Step Away (Issun saki wa yami), Dig a Pitfall, Make Two Holes (Hito o inoraba ana futatsu), from the series One Hundred Pictures by Kyôsai (Kyôsai hyakuzu)


狂斎百図 「一寸さきハやみ 人をいのらば穴二つ」
Kawanabe Kyôsai (Japanese, 1831–1889)
Japanese
Edo period
1863–66 (Bunkyû 3–Keiô 2)

Medium/Technique Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
Dimensions Vertical yotsugiri (quarter ôban); about 19 x 12.7 cm (7 1/2 x 5 in.)
Credit Line William Sturgis Bigelow Collection
Accession Number11.36995
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsPrints

Catalogue Raisonné Kaikan sanjû shûnen kinen Kawanabe Kyôsai kinen bijutsukan cat. (2008), p. 103, #0791 (sheet of 4); Tokita, E de tanoshimu Edo no kotowaza (2005), p. 202; Oikawa, Clark & Forrer, Comic Genius: Kawanabe Kyôsai/Kyôsai giga kyôga ten (1996), #122-7
DescriptionMFA impressions:
Uncut sheet: 11.45393.10
Right side only: 11.22643, 11.36995, 11.45800.42
Left side only: 11.22638, 11.37007
Signed Kyôsai ga
狂斎画
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.