kumimono 組物

A set of *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 prints with a common theme. The distinction between the term *soroimono 揃物 and kumimono is not very clear. Some suggest that soroimono is a set of prints with a common title which is written on each print, while kumimono have no titles written on the prints. However, others think that kumimono is a set of prints, one of which depicts an introductory scene for the whole set. The term kumimono seems to be typically applied for a set of twelve *shunga 春画 (pornographic prints) in the late 17th century, such as "Scenes of Yoshiwara" Yoshiwara no tai 吉原の躰 by Hishikawa Moronobu 菱川師宣 (?-1694). In addition, a set of prints with a continuous composition *tsuzuki-e 続絵 is also sometimes referred to as kumimono.