Decoration: Illustrated with a series of 33 paintings in brush and various colors of wash: a street performer with musical accompanist, a storyteller, shishi mai [dancers to scare away evil spirits], saru hiki [man with a circus monkey], a caretaker and his caged uguisu [a warbling bird], a bird catcher, two people sawing wood, stonemason, Decoration: a woman street vendor, a woman maker of hairpieces, a fortune-teller, a shakuhachi [flute] street performer, a traveling Buddhist practitioner and proselytizer [Koya hijiri], a pilgrim, a drumming Buddhist practitioner, a chest pounder [mune tataki], a picture framer, a woman cleaning the fabric of a disassembled kimono, a rower, a man pulling a carriage, a farmer, a gardener, Decoration: a lumber merchant, a bamboo seller, a barrel maker, a hibachi seller carrying his wares, a man selling candy and dumplings, a seller of medicines, a basket seller, a seller of branches used in religious offerings, a woman vegetable seller, a bird seller, and a Buddhist solicitor of money for temple repairs [kanjin hijiri] Binding: Handscroll, endpaper at beginning with gold-flecked paper and endpaper verso a rich silk brocade. Scroll backed and strengthened. Housed in a kiri wood box. Provenance: Purchased from Jonathan A. Hill on the William Edward Archer Fund, September 2020. Shokunin zukushi [“Pictures of People of Various Occupations”] is a theme in painting and illustration that became popular in early modern Japan. While highly esteemed for their artistic qualities, these illustrations are also a valuable record of the lives of early modern urban dwellers. The artisan theme derived from the medieval 'shokunin utaawase-zu' in which various trades were illustrated in pictures with accompanying poems.
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