SENGAI GIBON (1750-1837) Edo period (1615-1868), early 19th century Carved Bullfinch and Torii Arch, kakejiku (hanging scroll), ink on paper in silk mounts, with an inscription Yo no uso to uso to no kae ni kaete ataehen ware wa makoto o (Exchanging and exchanging again all the world's mistakes, at last we get to the truth); with a wood tomobako storage box inscribed outside Sengai Zenshi bokuseki uso tori (Ink painting of the uso bird by Zen Master Sengai) and signed and sealed inside by the economist and collector Awakawa Yasuichi (1902-1977). Overall: 126.2cm x 19.1cm (49 13/16in x 7½in); image: 55cm x 13.7cm (21 5/8in x 5 3/8in). (2). 注脚 Provenance: A distinguished private collection. These motifs refer to the Usogae ceremony held on the seventh day of the first month at the Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine, when crowds would exchange carved wood figures of uso (bullfinches) several times while shouting 'Kaemasho, kaemasho' (let's swap them, let's swap them), metaphorically liberating themselves from the uso, also meaning 'lies' or 'bad decisions', of the previous year. For another example and an account of Usogae, see Yatsunami Hirokazu, Sengai no fuzokuga o megutte (On Genre Painting of Sengai), Idemitsu Bijutsukan kenkyu kiyo, 21 (January 2016), pp.76-77, accessible at http://idemitsu-museum.or.jp/research/pdf/03.idemitsu-No21_2016.pdf