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Jigsaw puzzles from Japan

Kimonos by Morita Haruyo

On this page: Four Seasons series - Tale of Genji series - About the artist

See also: Main Haruyo page - "Page 3" (Colours series) - "Page 4" (Floral series) - Browse all Haruyo puzzles

Four Seasons series

logoHere Haruyo portrays not the luxuriance of the courtesan, but the innocence of youth. Each young girl wears the furisode kimono - the long sleeves a symbol of maidenhood - and her name matches the season.

Haruka
© Studio Morita / Studio Oz Inc
haru
spring
ka
perfume

1000: Haruka

Spring! The youthful Haruka, in her bright pink kimono, holds a spray of forsythia and irises. Perhaps the drape in the background is ready for some celebrations under the cherry blossoms?

Detail
In stock
An Epoch puzzle: 1000 pieces; 50 x 75 cm (20" x 30")
Code: E11083 (11-083 on box)
Retail price ¥3000 (approx. US$29.41 €18.99 £14.93)
Shipping from ¥1200 (N. America, Europe, Australasia: approx. US$11.76 €7.59 £5.97)
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Ayaka
© Studio Morita / Studio Oz Inc
aya
tints
ka
summer

1000: Ayaka

Midsummer night! To a background of fireworks, the young Ayaka stands among summer flowers.

Detail
In stock
An Epoch puzzle: 1000 pieces; 50 x 75 cm (20" x 30")
Code: E11092 (11-092 on box)
Retail price ¥3000 (approx. US$29.41 €18.99 £14.93)
Shipping from ¥1200 (N. America, Europe, Australasia: approx. US$11.76 €7.59 £5.97)
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Chiaki
© Studio Morita / Studio Oz Inc
chi
thousand
aki
autumn

1000: Chiaki

A thousand autumns! Chiaki has a slightly quizzical look as she stands gracefully in her kimono, surrounded by brilliant red maples.

Detail
In stock
An Epoch puzzle: 1000 pieces; 50 x 75 cm (20" x 30")
Code: E11096 (11-096 on box)
Retail price ¥3000 (approx. US$29.41 €18.99 £14.93)
Shipping from ¥1100 (N. America, Europe, Australasia: approx. US$10.78 €6.96 £5.47)
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Fuyune
© Studio Morita / Studio Oz Inc
fuyu
winter
ne
sound

1000: Fuyune

Winter! Fuyune holds her new year's "arrow of good fortune", surrounded by peonies, pine and red-berried nanten bushes weighed down by snow dumplings. Haruyo has thoughtfully added a distant golden pavilion (Kinkakuji) to break up what would otherwise be a large blank area in the upper right corner.

Detail
In stock
An Epoch puzzle: 1000 pieces; 50 x 75 cm (20" x 30")
Code: E11098 (11-098 on box)
Retail price ¥3000 (approx. US$29.41 €18.99 £14.93)
Shipping from ¥1200 (N. America, Europe, Australasia: approx. US$11.76 €7.59 £5.97)
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The garden of the four seasons
© Studio Morita / Studio Oz Inc

1000: The garden of the four seasons

Here we see the four ladies, representing the seasons, gathered together in a lawn party somehow reminiscent of a scene from the French impressionists. One dances with a fan, another accompanying her on the koto; a third reads, while the fourth is content to watch.

Detail
In stock
An Epoch puzzle: 1000 pieces; 75 x 50 cm (30" x 20")
Code: E11121 (11-121 on box)
Retail price ¥3000 (approx. US$29.41 €18.99 £14.93)
Shipping from ¥1200 (N. America, Europe, Australasia: approx. US$11.76 €7.59 £5.97)
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Tale of Genji series

logo The Tale of Genji (Genji monogatari) is said to be the world's first novel, written in around 1000 AD, by the Lady Murasaki Shikibu (978-1016). Haruyo has chosen vignettes from the story, to illustrate the opulent fashion of court life in the Heian era. These puzzles are 1000 and 300 pieces.

Comprehensive site on the Tale of Genji

Melancholy
© Studio Morita / Studio Oz Inc

1000: Melancholy

Yûshû - melancholy. This is Murasaki, Genji's longest, truest love, it seems, reduced to desolation when Genji marries the Third Princess. Why, in an era when it was quite normal to marry several people? Well, though Genji remained emotionally faithful to Murasaki, she was far outranked in the complicated social scale by his new wife, and fell ill, never to recover. Notice how her hair is almost as long as the elaborate kimono she wears; apparently long hair was the principal thing men of the time were attracted by.

Detail
In stock
An Epoch puzzle: 1000 pieces; 50 x 75 cm (20" x 30")
Code: E83143 (1000SN-143 on box)
Retail price ¥3000 (approx. US$29.41 €18.99 £14.93)
Shipping from ¥1100 (N. America, Europe, Australasia: approx. US$10.78 €6.96 £5.47)
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Charm
© Studio Morita / Studio Oz Inc

1000: Charm

The original title on the box is Yûen, a poetic term for grace and beauty. This lady is one of Genji's many lovers, but is also (unknown to Genji) the daughter of an enemy. Here she awaits a tryst in her many-layered kimono, under the hazy spring moon (oborozuki: another icon of Japanese literature).

Detail
In stock
An Epoch puzzle: 1000 pieces; 50 x 75 cm (20" x 30")
Code: E83170 (1000SN-170 on box)
Retail price ¥3000 (approx. US$29.41 €18.99 £14.93)
Shipping from ¥1100 (N. America, Europe, Australasia: approx. US$10.78 €6.96 £5.47)
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Morita Haruyo

Signature

Haruyo: signature and seal

The artist Morita Haruyo studied both Japanese art and kimono design, and she combines these with elements of her own Western-influenced technique. (She travelled to London in 1977, exactly the year I [Brian Chandler] first came to Tokyo.)

Morita is her family name: she follows the tradition of signing - and sealing - paintings with her given name only.

Note: The translations of titles are mine.

Other kimono puzzles

We now have the complete Haruyo catalog in stock, except for the slight delay in getting the latest displayed on the website.

See also: Kaname kimono collection

Deleted puzzles

For reference: you can view all the Haruyo puzzles that are out of print in the Attic.

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