Something Rubbed: Medium, History, and Texture in Japanese Surimono

Abstract

This thesis analyzes the history and development of privately commissioned prints of the Edo period (1603–1868) known as surimono, which flourished from c. 1790–1830. Created by the same artists and publishers responsible for commercially sold ukiyo-e woodblock prints, or nishiki-e, surimono have been justly celebrated for their virtuosity and technical sophistication, from the earliest treatises on Japanese art history in the late nineteenth century until the present. Until now, however, this genre of printmaking has been studied primarily through the cataloguing of collections, and its popularity understood mostly as one manifestation of conspicuous luxury consumption among wealthy urbanites. My study proposes that surimono should not be treated as isolated or lesser works due to their high levels of craftsmanship, as contemporarily, surimono were understood to be an important facet of print culture amongst intellectually engaged ukiyo-e practitioners. This will be done through a comparative study of other circulating media that influenced the appearance and trajectory of surimono development, namely poem presentation sheets (kaishi), abbreviated calendars (daishō), celebratory prints for the New Year (nenga), Chinese manuals intended for painting instruction (huapu), and the illustrated deluxe volumes of kyōka poetry known as e-iri-kyōka-bon. The curtailment in the production of e-iri-kyōka-bon in the 1790s due to the sumptuary regulations initiated as part of the Kansei reforms encouraged the uptake of certain printing practices and aesthetics in surimono. The extent to which surimono practitioners conceptualized their own activities is discussed through an examination of the Ukiyo-e ruikō (Thoughts on Ukiyo-e), the first history of ukiyo-e, written in several recensions during the nineteenth century. A study of the Ukiyo-e ruikō, combined with the high incidence of e-iri-kyōka-bon themes in surimono reveals a community deeply concerned with their own past lineage. The specialist vocabulary developed around surimono, as articulated in the Ukiyo-e ruikō, reveals their importance as experiential objects, rather than as objects of passive viewership.