Minneapolis Institute of Art

Mice on Rice-cake Flowers

Nagasawa Rosetsu

Date

late 1790s

Medium

Hanging scroll, ink and color on silk

Department

Asian Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Four mice munch on little bits of mochi (rice dough) that dot a plum tree branch, as a baby mouse watches nearby. In Japan, the first full moon of the new year is known as “Small New Year’s Day” (Koshōgatsu). A typical decoration for the occasion includes “mochi flowers” (mochi bana)—small pieces of rice cakes pierced onto a branch of Chinese sumac, Chinese hackberry, or willow—that were made to wish for a good harvest. This image references a haiku for New Year’s by poet Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694): “These rice cake flowers / put up for decorations / for the first mouse.” Asia

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