Funny Story of Measles

Original Language Titleはしか落しばなし

Artist Sumida Ryōko (Japanese, active mid-19th century to early 20th century)

Date1862

MediumWoodblock print; ink and color on paper

DimensionsImage: 18 × 9 1/2 inches (45.72 × 24.13 cm)
Framed: 22 3/4 × 15 1/4 inches (57.79 × 38.74 cm)

Credit LineAnonymous gift

Object number2024.30.7

On View

Not on view

Collections

East Asian Art

Terms

DescriptionThis is a polychrome ōban woodblock print. Its design is two-tiered. The upper area describes the problems caused by the measles outbreak. The title on the upper right is placed in a leaf-shaped cartouche: Hashika otoshi banashi. The lower area is filled with seventeen people of various occupations described in the upper area. Each person’s occupation is identified by the roundel on their sleeves. The workers represented here include, from the middle right in clockwise, a fish seller, an inn owner, physicians, a wine vendor, a tofu retailer, a pharmacist, geishas, and a Measles patient. The print bears the publisher's name on the right (伊勢庄 Iseshō) and the artist’s name (了古Ryōko) on the bottom center.

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