Utagawa Toyokuni I 初代 歌川 豊国
Japanese, 1769–1825
Courting Komachi (Kayoi Komachi), from the series Seven Fashionable Figures of Ono no Komachi (Furyu nana Komachi yatushi sugata-e)
INV-8947
Utagawa Toyokuni I 初代 歌川 豊国
Japanese, 1769–1825Edo period (1615–1868), about 1792
Courting Komachi (Kayoi Komachi), from the series Seven Fashionable Figures of Ono no Komachi (Furyu nana Komachi yatushi sugata-e)
Utagawa Toyokuni I 初代 歌川 豊国 Japanese, 1769–1825 →Japanese (culture or style)woodblock printprint
Date
Edo period (1615–1868), about 1792
Medium
Color woodblock print; oban
Dimensions
37.5 × 26 cm (14 3/4 × 10 1/4 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Clarence Buckingham Collection
In this print, a contemporary courtesan and her attendant walk at night, presumably to visit a client. The latter holds a lantern that shines a beam of light across the design, changing the color of all that passes through it. The sheen on the lit portion of the courtesan’s sash was created with animal glue, an adhesive made of rendered animal tissue. This scene is meant to recall an episode in which famed poet Ono no Komachi asked one of her suitors to visit her on 100 successive days in order to prove his love.
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
