Advanced Search
Advanced Search

Eight small designs from the series Tanuki jokes (Tanuki no share): right to left and top to bottom, Fortune Telling (Uranai); Catching Minnows (Zako tori); A Sudden Shower (Yûdachi); Hunting with a Net (Amiuchi); Shop Signs (Kanban); Towboat (Hikifune); Moving House (Yadogae); Street Vendor (Dôgu mise)


「狸のしやれ うらない」 「狸のしやれ ざことり」 「狸のしやれ 夕立」 「狸のしやれ あみ打」 「狸のしやれ かんばん」 「狸のしやれ 引ふね」 「狸のしやれ やどがへ」 「狸のしやれ 道具みせ」
Sadaashi (Japanese)
After: Utagawa Kuniyoshi (Japanese, 1797–1861)
Publisher: Kawaji
Japanese
Edo period
about late 1840s–early 1850s

Medium/Technique Woodblock print (key block); ink on paper
Dimensions Eight yatsugiri designs on uncut vertical ôban sheet; 35.9 x 28 cm (14 1/8 x 11 in.)
Credit Line William Sturgis Bigelow Collection
Accession Number11.37242
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsPrints

DescriptionBased on designs by Kuniyoshi, made in the early 1840s; see 11.36666, 11.36667, 11.36713.
In Japanese folklore, the racoon-dog (tanuki) is said to have a magically expandable scrotum.
Signed Sadaashi giga
貞葦戯画
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.