Sakai Doitsu
New Year’s Game Paddle Decorated with Longevity Symbols
1866
Physical Qualities
Ink, mineral and metallic pigments on wood, silk cord, 21 7/16 × 8 1/16 × 13/16 in. (54.5 × 20.5 × 2.1 cm.)
Credit Line
Julius Levy Memorial Fund
Object Number
2019.17
A hagoita is a wooden paddle used in Hanetsuki, a New Year game similar to badminton. The paddle is painted on one side with a scene of Mount Horai with a tortoise scrambling up the rocky island with cresting and crashing waves below. Two cranes hover in the sky beneath a red sun against the gold ground. The reverse is painted with three chrysanthemums blossoming from a single stem in white with centers dotted yellow. The handle is wrapped in figured brown silk. [Kaikodo, 2018]
The Baltimore Museum of Art by purchase, 2019; Kaikodo, New York
Collection installation, "Asia. Islands across Asia: Crossroads," Levy Gallery, Baltimore Museum of Art, October 5, 2023-
"Parallel Lives," NY: Kaikodo, 15 March-18 May 2018, no. 25.
Inscribed: Signed: "Uge Dōitsu hitu”「雨華道一 筆」 ”Painted by Dōitsu called Uge.” Seal: Uge 「雨華」 Seal on the reverse: Uge Dōitsu「雨華道一」
On View: Levy Gallery 1, Case 04/B
