Ebisu and Benten walking in the snow

This Japanese woodblock print is a good example of <em>surimono</em>, limited-edition, privately commissioned prints which are finely crafted; smaller than an ōban, they often combine verse and image in complementary arrangements. The composition of Ebisu and Benten or Benzaiten by Utagawa Toyohiro (1773–1828) was published to celebrate the advent of the new year. Both figures were counted among the <em>fukujin</em>, the Seven Gods of Good Fortune, and their appearance together was especially auspicious. Images of Ebisu and Benten were associated with the popular New Year tradition of making a pilgrimage to the seven shrines devoted to each of the Seven Gods of Good Fortune.

Ebisu was the god of wealth and patron saint of merchants. His attributes included the fishing pole (here replaced by a gaff) and <em>tai</em> or sea bream. <em>Tai</em> was itself an auspicious image – it was considered to be the finest among fish. Assuming its bright red colour when spawning in the Inland Sea, it was called <em>sakuradai</em>, ‘cherry blossom sea bream’, a seasonal term for spring. Benten is the goddess of eloquence, learning and art, or more broadly, anything that flows: water, time, words and speech, eloquence and music. She is a syncretic entity, with both a Buddhist and a Shinto side, worshipped especially at Enoshima and associated with the snake year.

The highest qualities of pigment and print skill are evident here – especially in the delicate tonal modulations of the folds of Ebisu’s humble garments and in the finely printed skin tones, and also in the rich use of gauffrage blind printing on the clothing of both figures, and in the falling snow on the parasol and on the ground. The appearance of late snow heralds the arrival of spring. The link between Benten and Ebisu is subtly suggested in the delicate image of snow falling on water on Benten’s <em>furisode</em> kimono in this <em>surimono</em>.

Dr Mark Stocker   Curator, Historical International Art    May 2019