# A Picture by Hishikawa Moronobu: Woman with a Set of Poem Cards

**Totoya Hokkei** (Japanese, 1780–1850)  
mid 1820s  
color woodblock print (surimono) with gold, silver, and embossing  
Sheet: 21 x 18.4 cm (8 1/4 x 7 1/4 in.)

Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1985.324. [The museum's record](https://clevelandart.org/art/1985.324).

## About this work

The poem by Ganjotei Shirataka reads: Friendly, amid the starry forest of the plum branches the voice of the warbler singing of the sun and moon.

_Text from the Cleveland Museum of Art._

Totoya Hokkei designed this in the mid 1820s, aged about 44. It is now at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

### How it was made

- **Surimono.** Privately commissioned Japanese prints, often New Year greetings, made in small runs on thick paper with metallic pigments and blind embossing, and usually paired with poems.
- **Colour woodblock print.** In Japan these were a team effort. The artist drew the design, a carver cut it into cherry-wood blocks, one block for each colour, and a printer brushed on the pigment and rubbed each sheet by hand. Full-colour prints of this kind were called nishiki-e, “brocade pictures”, from the 1760s on.

### [Totoya Hokkei](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/totoya-hokkei)

Japanese, 1780–1850

## Facts

- Type: Print
- Culture: Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
- The artist was about 44
- Real size: about 8½ × 7 in (21 × 18 cm). The original is small: even the 8 × 10 in print shows it larger than life.
- Century: 19th century
- Movement: [Ukiyo-e](https://www.ochreeditions.com/movements/ukiyo-e)
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/730.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/730/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/a-picture-by-hishikawa-moronobu-woman-with-a-set-of-poem-car-cma-152503).