Item from the Mokuhankan Flea Market

Grasshopper and Cicada

Size: 26.5cm by 38.0cm (10.43 in by 14.96 in) | Enlargement | Shipping Code: [L] ?

Designer: Kitagawa Utamaro

Era: Early Showa | Currency: $ / £ / €

Price: ¥ 12,000$ 96.00£ 70.00€ 82.00 [Item has been sold]

Description: The print is from Utamaro's series Pictures of Insects (Ehon Mushi Erami); a collection of 15 designs of insects and other garden creatures that pairs various insects with humorous or suggestive poems (kyoka) reflecting on human behavior. The poems were written by Ishikawa Masamochi.

In this scene, a cicada clings to the surface of a silk gourd, while a grasshopper rests quietly on a branch of the same trailing plant. The delicate shimmer of mica on the grasshopper’s wings adds a subtle sparkle to the texture of the composition.

The accompanying kyoka on the left reads:

Beware grasshopper, even the wall have ears that can hear your secret passions.

Careless people are like a cicada, their gossip is heard loudly and the truth can not be seen.

This verse playfully compares the insects to human behavior, the grasshopper becomes a symbol of indiscretion, while the cicada—loud and exposed—stands for gossip and concealed truths.

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