Porcelain bowl and scissors

Next to a porcelain bowl in which herbs float in water, lie a pair of scissors and a grater. The bowl is decorated with the characters for luck and long life, and with the emblem of the Tsurunoya poets group. Attached to the scissors is a red fabric monkey, which could be a reference to the Year of the Monkey, 1824. The two poems refer to the seven spring herbs; a New Year symbol.