Totoya Hokkei, Rooster threatening a painted cockerel, 1825, Japan, CBL J 2116 © 2017 Chester Beatty Library

DUBLIN.- The Chester Beatty Library in Dublin is presenting a special exhibition focusing on one of the treasures of the Library’s Japanese collection: the colour woodblock prints known as surimono. Combining short verses by poets with elegantly executed illustrations by the most famous names of the floating world, these privately commissioned prints open a window onto the flourishing literary culture of Japan’s Edo period (c. 1603–1868). The exhibition features more than eighty prints selected from the Library’s extensive surimono collection, by artists including Katsushika Hokusai, Totoya Hokkei and Yashima Gakutei. 

In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the city of Edo (modern Tokyo) was gripped by a fever for ‘wild verse’. The amateur poets who penned these short, witty poems commissioned woodblock prints that paired their verse with elegant designs. These privately commissioned prints are known as surimono. Made to be exchanged among friends and to mark auspicious occasions such as the New Year, these prints were crafted with the utmost care. Capturing courtesans and heroes, scenes of daily life and stories from the scholar’s desk, surimono embody the eloquence and amity of Japan’s cultivated salons: a glittering glimpse into a world rich in witty allusion. 

The quality and refinement of surimono appealed greatly to Sir Alfred Chester Beatty. Between 1954 and 1963, he amassed a collection of these prints that is considered one of the finest in the world. This year is the 60th anniversary of formal diplomatic relations between Japan and Ireland. As artistic and poetic sentiments shared to mark the passing of time and friendship’s renewal, surimono offer the perfect medium to celebrate this important occasion. 

Chester Beatty Library Director, Fionnuala Croke said “The strong cultural links between the Chester Beatty Library and Japan started in Beatty’s own lifetime and have ever since continued to grow in strength. I am delighted that this exquisite exhibition, The Art of Friendship, will mark the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Ireland and Japan.” 

The exhibition is curated by Dr Mary Redfern, Curator of the Library’s East Asian Collection.