About This Print
In this print a raucous group of children are painting the belly of Hotei, the god of happiness. It is one of forty prints (chūban size) which make up the series Sketchs by Yoshitoshi (Yoshitoshi ryakuga). The series consists of forty humorous subjects originally printed in pairs on an ōban sheet as shown below.
Lea Baten in Playthings and Pastimes in Japanese Prints provides us with the following wonderful description of this print:1
[C]hildren painting Hotei’s belly to look like a giant mochi cake. Hotei, one of the seven gods of good luck, is the Japanese god of happiness, for in his huge sack he carries toys and treasures for the flocks of children who swarm around him everywhere. He is very tolerant and allows the boisterous bevy many liberties, while pondering sleepily and not too seriously on the deterioration of today’s morals. Here, after having received paint and paintbrush, a mischievous youngster is trying out his artistic talents on Hotei’s immense hairy stomach to the joy of the others who are accompanying his efforts with jumping, laughter, and brandishing toys. A plum blossom and a pine needle adorn the patient Hotei’s grotesque belly, which is being blown up through a natural channel, to put it euphemistically, by a daring juvenile delinquent with a long bamboo pipe.
The Uncut Oban-size Sheet
1 Playthings and Pastimes in Japanese Prints, Lea Baten, Weatherhill, 1995, p. 110-112.
Print Details
IHL Catalog | #1521 |
Title | Children Blowing up the Belly of Hotei and Painting It Like a Candy 漢子以布袋腹擬吃飴 |
Series | Sketches by Yoshitoshi (also seen translated as "Abbreviated Sketches by Yoshitoshi" and "Quick Drawings by Yoshitoshi") 芳年略画 Yoshitoshi Ryakuga ![]() |
Artist | Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892) |
Signature | ![]() Yoshitoshi giga with Yoshitoshi seal |
Seal | 芳年 Yoshitoshi as shown above |
Date | May 1882 |
Publisher | Funazu Chūjirō [Marks. pub. ref. 260] |
Carver | |
Impression | excellent |
Colors | excellent |
Condition | good - vertical center fold with paper remnants verso; minor soiling |
Genre | ukiyo-e; giga |
Miscellaneous | Keyes 446-18 |
Format | horizontal chūban (originally issued as a pair on an ōban sheet as shown above) |
H x W Paper | 7 x 9 3/16 in. (17.8 x 23.3 cm) |
H x W Image | same as paper size |
Collections This Print | National Diet Library info:ndljp/pid/1312932; Los Angeles County Museum of Art M.84.31.350 |
Reference Literature |