Skip to main content

A female musician playing a drum at a cherry blossom viewing party, by Yashima Gakutei

Image attached to P.335-1937

An image of Surimono pentaptych. A female musician playing a drum at a cherry blossom viewing party. Gakutei, Yashima (Japanese printmaker, 1786(?)-1868). Colour print from woodblocks, with metallic pigment and blind embossing, circa 1827-circa 1829. Poetry by Ikkokutei Senkin, Hisakataya, Kamenoya Osamaru, Gachoan Michitane, Suihotei Komatsu, Seikaitei Kamendo and Hanamitei Tokiwa. Ukiyo-e.
Notes: This pentaptych, which is very rare as a complete set, was commissioned by the Hisakataya poetry group. The five musicians, dressed in virtually identical kimono and obi (sash) are playing (from the right) a drum, koto (zither), biwa (lute), sho (chinese pipes) and flute. In the background is stretched a decorative curtain to protect the blossom-viewers’s privacy. Blossom is falling onto the red carpet on which the musicians kneel. The poems read: ‘Poem slips dance in the wind with the music beneath the cherry trees in the hills of Yoshino.’ (Gachoan Michitane); ‘Spring wind sweeps away two or three cherry blossoms from the carpet as the lute plays.’ (Hisakataya); ‘In a cloud of flowers on a spring field: a flute, a drum, a zither, dandelions and horsetails.’ (Kamenoya Osamaru); ‘The cold strains of the jewelled zither turn into a storm and drive the snow of fallen flowers into the hands beneath the tree.’ (Hisakataya); ‘The drumsticks see the cherry blossoms: one piece of their music takes away the drunkenness of the flower-viewing wine.’ (Ikkokutei Senkin); ‘Two butterflies, awakened from their sleep by the music of the flowers play on a spring day.’ (Hisakataya).

Terms of use

These images are provided for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons License (BY-NC-ND). To license a high resolution version, please contact our image library who will discuss fees, terms and waivers.

Download this image

Creative commons explained - what it means, how you can use our's and other people's content.

About this image

Surimono pentaptych. A female musician playing a drum at a cherry blossom viewing party. Gakutei, Yashima (Japanese printmaker, 1786(?)-1868). Colour print from woodblocks, with metallic pigment and blind embossing, circa 1827-circa 1829. Poetry by Ikkokutei Senkin, Hisakataya, Kamenoya Osamaru, Gachoan Michitane, Suihotei Komatsu, Seikaitei Kamendo and Hanamitei Tokiwa. Ukiyo-e. Notes: This pentaptych, which is very rare as a complete set, was commissioned by the Hisakataya poetry group. The five musicians, dressed in virtually identical kimono and obi (sash) are playing (from the right) a drum, koto (zither), biwa (lute), sho (chinese pipes) and flute. In the background is stretched a decorative curtain to protect the blossom-viewers’s privacy. Blossom is falling onto the red carpet on which the musicians kneel. The poems read: ‘Poem slips dance in the wind with the music beneath the cherry trees in the hills of Yoshino.’ (Gachoan Michitane); ‘Spring wind sweeps away two or three cherry blossoms from the carpet as the lute plays.’ (Hisakataya); ‘In a cloud of flowers on a spring field: a flute, a drum, a zither, dandelions and horsetails.’ (Kamenoya Osamaru); ‘The cold strains of the jewelled zither turn into a storm and drive the snow of fallen flowers into the hands beneath the tree.’ (Hisakataya); ‘The drumsticks see the cherry blossoms: one piece of their music takes away the drunkenness of the flower-viewing wine.’ (Ikkokutei Senkin); ‘Two butterflies, awakened from their sleep by the music of the flowers play on a spring day.’ (Hisakataya).

Image data

  • Accession Number: P.335-1937
  • Photograph copyright © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
  • Aperture: f/22.0
  • Focal length: 120
  • Camera: Hasselblad H4D-31
  • Photographer name: Katie Young
  • Image height: 1025 pixels
  • Image width: 918 pixels
  • Processed with: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.0 (Windows)
  • Filesize: 1.04MB
  • Exposure time: 1/60
  • ISO Speed: 100
  • Fnumber: 22/1
  • Captured: 2015:12:16 11:43:04

Key words

19th Century blind embossing blossom cherry blossom colour printing costume drummer drumming drums embossed fashion fashionable female Fitz_PDP Gakutei hair hairstyle Japanese karazuri kimono metal metallic music musical instruments musician obi party pentaptych playing an instrument poem poetry poets print sash seated sitting surimono tree blossom ukiyo-e woman woodblock woodcut Yashima Gakutei

Colours in this image

rgb(231,223,204), rgb(57,59,56), rgb(211,138,98), rgb(117,100,81), rgb(109,73,53), rgb(150,126,105), rgb(222,198,164), rgb(199,178,151), rgb(91,124,123), rgb(91,116,124), rgb(143,84,52)

Citation for print

This page can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "A female musician playing a drum at a cherry blossom viewing party, by Yashima Gakutei" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/image/media-3095547316 Accessed: 2024-12-24 11:26:19

Citation for Wikipedia

To cite this page on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:

{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/image/media-3095547316 |title=A female musician playing a drum at a cherry blossom viewing party, by Yashima Gakutei |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-12-24 11:26:19|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

API call for this record

To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:

https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/images/media-218438

Bootstrap HTML code for reuse

To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:

<div class="text-center">
    <figure class="figure">
        <img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/pdp/pdp82/P_335_1937_1_201512_kly25_dc2.jpg"
        alt="A female musician playing a drum at a cherry blossom viewing party"
        class="img-fluid" />
        <figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">A female musician playing a drum at a cherry blossom viewing party, by Yashima Gakutei</figcaption>
    </figure>
</div>
    

Sign up for updates

Updates about future exhibitions and displays, family activities, virtual events & news. You'll be the first to know...