Yashima Gakutei
Japanese, 1786 (?)-1868
Woman About to Write a Poem
INV-8096
Yashima Gakutei
Japanese, 1786 (?)-1868c. 1824
Woman About to Write a Poem
Yashima Gakutei Japanese, 1786 (?)-1868 →Japanese (culture or style)woodblock printprint
Date
c. 1824
Medium
Color woodblock print with metallic pigments; surimono shikishiban
Dimensions
21.3 × 18.3 cm (8 7/16 × 7 1/4 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Gift of Helen C. Gunsaulus
The figure of a sumptuously attired woman takes up almost the entire composition of this print. She wears a layered kimono, the outer robe of which has a lavish design of plums, a winding stream, and Chinese characters. She is an educated woman as evidenced by the books piled on the lacquer cabinet behind her. She looks at a blank sheet of decorated paper, brush in hand, ready to compose a poem. Above her, the poems speak of the art of poetry as practiced by animals, whereby the animals represent the efforts of amateur poets. One of the poems reads:
Even the sound
Of the song
Bellowed by a frog
Who lives in a well
Is somehow transformed
[when inscribed on a poem card.]
(Translated by John Carpenter)
Also notable
Works in the same vein
Komurasaki of the Miuraya and Shirai Gompachi (Miuraya Komurasaki, Shirai Gompachi)
Kitagawa Utamaro 喜多川 歌麿 Japanese, c.1753-1806
Hamamatsu, from the series "Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido (Tokaido gojusan tsugi)," also known as the Tokaido with Poem (Kyoka iri Tokaido)
Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川 広重 Japanese, 1797-1858
Mitsuke: Ferries Crossing the Tenryu River (Mitsuke, Tenryugawa funawatashi), from the series "Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido (Tokaido gojusan tsugi)," also known as the Tokaido with Poem (Kyoka iri Tokaido)
Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川 広重 Japanese, 1797-1858
