January, 1917 
21 
SURIMONO — THE 
N EW YEAR CARDS 
OF JAPAN 
GARDNER TEALL 
The cards to left and right are a rare exam¬ 
ple of a double surimono by Gakutei, a re¬ 
markable example of grauffrage, as shown in 
the blossoms of the plum tree. Gakutei 
doubtless produced surimono of a quality 
finer than any others that we know 
M uch has appeared in magazine litera¬ 
ture on the subject of Japanese prints 
in general, but very little on specialized 
phases. Notwithstanding this, it is, per¬ 
haps, these specialized phases that offer to 
the collector fresh and particular interest. 
The surimono class of Japanese prints of¬ 
fers, for instance, a little explored field, but 
one, on the other hand, free from the pro¬ 
hibitive discouragements that so often con¬ 
front collectors who wish only to expend a 
limited amount from time to time. 
The surimono (the same word is used by 
the Japanese to indicate the singular or 
plural number) is generally small in size, 
elaborate in execution, printed on a paper 
thicker and softer than that used for Japan¬ 
ese color prints of other sorts, and forms a 
congratulatory greeting o r 
commemorative pictorial effu¬ 
sion. In Japan festivals are 
many and these evoke suri¬ 
mono appropriate to the occa¬ 
sion. New Year’s has always 
been made much of by the 
Japanese and it is among 
some of the New Year’s suri¬ 
mono that some of the most 
remarkable specimens of the 
technical skill of the Japanese 
wood-engraver and color 
printer are to be found. 
In times past, and even with 
some writers on Japanese col¬ 
or prints of the present, the 
surimono (literally translated, 
‘‘printed thing”), have not 
been given either their due 
esthetically or the attention 
they deserve historically. I 
am glad to say that collectors 
are coming to assert their in¬ 
terest in the subject inde¬ 
pendently of the narrower 
point of view, for, after all, 
the surimono presents a fas¬ 
cination, when studied, that is 
unique in its appeal. 
The Artists and the Art 
Harunobu, Hiroshige, Ho- 
kusei, Kiyonaga,, Korinsai, 
Masonobu (Okumura), Mo¬ 
ron ub a, Sharaku, Shunsho, 
Utamaro I, Gakutei, Hokkei, 
Toshimitsu, Toyokuni I, Yei- 
zan, S h i n s a i, Katsukawa 
Shuntei, Hokuba—these are some of the 
Japanese color-print artists who lent their 
skill to the production of surimono. 
The surimono —impressions miraculeuses, 
De Goncourt called them — were not for 
the public but for friends of the artists or 
of the private individuals to whose order 
they were made. In format they were most 
often 5" or 6" square, rarely more than 
8". Elaboration and prettiness were, in 
the majority of the later surimono, qualities 
as much emphasized as was beauty in the 
other color-prints of the greatest masters 
of Japan, for these surimono present veri¬ 
table tours de force in the technique of 
Japanese color printing, their complexity is 
frequently astounding, leaving one in won¬ 
derment that human skill could produce the 
A Japanese greeting depicted by Gakutei bears an elaborate cherry 
blossom border done in grauffrage or embossing 
marvellous minute intricacies that the ma¬ 
jority of surimono exhibit. It would seem 
as thougb the Japanese wood block artist 
deliberately sets about making the surimono 
from his hand an example of every phase of 
his art at one and the same time. 
The subtlety of color gradation in many 
surimono is something not to be found in 
other classes of prints, and in no other 
classes of prints does the grauffrage —that is 
to say the effect produced by obtaining pat¬ 
tern by embossing from separate blocks 
without color (though often over color al¬ 
ready printed)—enter so extensively. A 
lavish use of gold, silver and copper metal¬ 
lic lustres enriches the little surimono either 
to lend gorgeousness to it or, again, by re¬ 
strained use, to emphasize its delicacy. 
Mica, such as we find in the 
Kira-ye (prints with mica 
backgrounds), and mother-of- 
pearl dust were likewise em¬ 
ployed in surimono. If it is 
true, as one writer maintains, 
that in the ordinary surimono 
the medium employed has out¬ 
stripped the motif expressed 
and that what should have 
been the means has become 
the sole end, we must not for¬ 
get the high interest of this 
technical display, which, in it¬ 
self, is sufficient to compel in¬ 
terest and appreciation. 
Surimono Are Rare 
I think the surimono color 
prints of Japan would appeal 
to everyone who retains an 
admiration for the mosaics of 
St. Mark’s. With the Japanese 
themselves the surimono holds 
a high place in the regard of 
native collectors. Indeed, one 
of the foremost Japanese deal¬ 
ers in the color prints of Japan 
returned last year to America 
with but twenty surimono of 
the first quality, though he 
had traveled the length and 
breadth of Japan buying fine 
color prints here and there as 
opportunity offered. Notwith¬ 
standing tbis fact, there are 
many collectable surimono in 
America in the stocks of the 
{Continued on page 68) 
