Sushi and New Year’s Sake

Sushi and New Year’s Sake

Ryūryūkyo Shinsai 柳々居辰斎

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This elegant still-life surimono, a genre Shinsai excelled in, shows a setting for a New Year’s meal of sushi and sake. The kyōka (31-syllable witty poem) on the right refers to Nanatsu Ume, a premium brand of dry sake brewed in Itami in the Sesshu (Osaka) region. The poems in the middle and left refer to shrimp sushi (ebi no sushi) and sushi rice wrapped in bamboo leaves (sasamaki).

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Sushi and New Year’s SakeSushi and New Year’s SakeSushi and New Year’s SakeSushi and New Year’s SakeSushi and New Year’s Sake

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.