Bunshojo signing Tomiharu
Iwami, 1804
A stripy spider clings inside the curve of a boar’s tusk. Its body is noticeably heart-shaped, while the thorax takes a trapezium form. It rubs its ‘jaws’ together as if feeding.
Inscribed in minute script:
石州 可愛河 青陽堂 富春 享年七十二歳而 彫刻之也 – Sekishu, Kaai gawa, Seiyodo, Tomiharu, kyonen nanajunisai nite, kore o chokoku nari. (Carved by Seiyodo Tomiharu, at the age of 72, Kaai River, in the Iwami Province).
Height: 9.6cm
The style of calligraphy and the shape of the spider’s body identify this as the work of his daughter, Bunshojo, who is recorded as sometimes signing with the name Tomiharu.
