「一陽連文房四友 墨 玄宗皇帝」『春雨集』 摺物帖 |Emperor Xuanzong (Japanese: Gensō) and Daoist Magician Lo Gongyuan Arising from an Inkstone; “Ink” (Sumi), from Four Friends of the Writing Table for the Ichiyō Poetry Circle (Ichiyō-ren Bunbō shiyū)From the Spring Rain Collection (Harusame shū), vol. 1

Gakutei employed the surimono technique, a specialized form of woodblock printing reserved for private, often poetic, commissions. The print combines delicate ink lines with subtle color washes, rendering the robes’ swirling red‑green patterns and the ghostly figure with a refined, almost lyrical quality characteristic of early‑19th‑century Edo‑period prints.

The work was produced under the patronage of the Ichiyō poetry circle, which gathered around the Four Friends of the Writing Table theme. It formed part of the first volume of the Spring Rain Collection, a series of prints that circulated among members of the circle and later entered museum collections as examples of collaborative literary‑artistic practice.

During the Edo period, surimono prints served as a vehicle for poets and artists to exchange ideas, often incorporating kyōka verses. Gakutei, a disciple of Totoya Hokkei and Hokusai, integrated his poetic sensibility with visual design, reflecting the broader cultural emphasis on the interplay of ink, brush, and poetry.