I. Nails in the Rice Bran / Clamps on the Tofu
II. You Can’t Help Getting Tied Up in Long Things (Nagai mono ni wa makarero)
One Hundred Pictures by Kyōsai (暁斎百図, Kyōsai Hyakuzu) - Plate 6
One Hundred Pictures by Kyōsai (暁斎百図, Kyōsai Hyakuzu) - Plate 6
I.This print combines two proverbs of futility.
“Nails in the rice bran” (Nuka ni kugi) means striking in vain—nails won’t hold in soft bran.
“Clamps on the tofu” (Tōfu ni kasugai) expresses the same idea: fastening something that cannot be fixed.
Kyosai illustrates both literally, showing people hammering nails into rice bran and attaching clamps to tofu with comic earnestness. The humor lies in their stubborn perseverance—an allegory for wasted effort and the human inability to recognize the hopelessness of one’s own labor.
II. A visual proverb about yielding to power or “long things,” here turned into farce as figures become ensnared.
Kawanabe Kyōsai
Woodblock print, ca. 1863–1866
From the series: One Hundred Pictures by Kyōsai (暁斎百図, Kyōsai Hyakuzu)
Format: small-format sheet (koban-ban), first edition
Publisher: Wakasaya Yoichi (若狭屋与市)
Dimensions: approx. 2 * 13 × 18 cm
Medium: polychrome woodblock print (nishiki-e) on handmade washi paper
Edition & Printing Details
This sheet belongs to the first edition of Kyōsai Hyakuzu, published between 1863–1866.
Note
This description is part of an evolving research project. Very few collections of this kind exist worldwide, and each newly studied sheet refines our understanding of the series. The catalogue will be continuously updated and expanded — leaving room for fresh interpretations, new connections, and unexpected discoveries that keep the collection alive and intriguing.
“Nails in the rice bran” (Nuka ni kugi) means striking in vain—nails won’t hold in soft bran.
“Clamps on the tofu” (Tōfu ni kasugai) expresses the same idea: fastening something that cannot be fixed.
Kyosai illustrates both literally, showing people hammering nails into rice bran and attaching clamps to tofu with comic earnestness. The humor lies in their stubborn perseverance—an allegory for wasted effort and the human inability to recognize the hopelessness of one’s own labor.
II. A visual proverb about yielding to power or “long things,” here turned into farce as figures become ensnared.
Kawanabe Kyōsai
Woodblock print, ca. 1863–1866
From the series: One Hundred Pictures by Kyōsai (暁斎百図, Kyōsai Hyakuzu)
Format: small-format sheet (koban-ban), first edition
Publisher: Wakasaya Yoichi (若狭屋与市)
Dimensions: approx. 2 * 13 × 18 cm
Medium: polychrome woodblock print (nishiki-e) on handmade washi paper
Edition & Printing Details
This sheet belongs to the first edition of Kyōsai Hyakuzu, published between 1863–1866.
Note
This description is part of an evolving research project. Very few collections of this kind exist worldwide, and each newly studied sheet refines our understanding of the series. The catalogue will be continuously updated and expanded — leaving room for fresh interpretations, new connections, and unexpected discoveries that keep the collection alive and intriguing.