Ebisu

Data

Ebisu
Print   (Part of the set: Akashi-ban Surimono)

Gakutei
Unknown
1890s

00036-022
https://mokuhankan.com/collection/index.php?id_for_display=00036-022

Print is Public Domain; Photography is:   Creative Commons License

Description

In this print we see an elegantly dressed young woman as Ebisu, one of the seven lucky gods. Ebisu is a patron of fishermen, and we can see this link in the print in the sea bream pictured in a basket. This print is from Gakutei's Mitate Shichifukujin (見立七福神, "Allusions to the Seven Lucky Gods") series (the other lucky gods are Hotei, Benzaiten, Bishamonten, Daikokuten, Jurōjin, and Fukurokuju).

While a number of highly technical and expensive features can be seen in this print (metallic pigments, bokashi gradation, and kimedashi blind embossing, just to name a few), the stand-out feature might be the karazuri blind embossing in the background. While it is a little difficult to make out exactly what it is, the karazuri is giving us a different pattern over the white and red background. Some hiragana characters hidden in the woman's kimono also seem to suggest that there is more to this print than meets the eye...

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