Yashima Gakutei
Japanese, 1786 (?)-1868
Ono no Komachi Viewing a Cherry Tree (Komachi zakura), from the series Cherry Blossoms of Katsushika (Katsushika sakura zukushi)
INV-8968
Yashima Gakutei
Japanese, 1786 (?)-1868Edo period (1615–1868), about 1820
Ono no Komachi Viewing a Cherry Tree (Komachi zakura), from the series Cherry Blossoms of Katsushika (Katsushika sakura zukushi)
Yashima Gakutei Japanese, 1786 (?)-1868 →Japanese (culture or style)woodblock printprint
Date
Edo period (1615–1868), about 1820
Medium
Color woodblock print; surimono
Dimensions
21 × 18.1 cm (8 5/16 × 7 3/16 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Clarence Buckingham Collection
This print is a surimono, a privately published image commissioned by the members of a poetry circle, in this case the Katsushika group. Here famous ninth-century poet Ono no Komachi views cherry blossoms at Kiyomizu Temple, a Buddhist temple in Kyoto. The flowers also appear on her robe and in the image’s background pattern. The two poems on the left read:
Even eyes not accented
By “Komachi red” make-up
Are colored
Cherry-pink
Tipsy from New Year’s
Drink.
The tails of green willow
Praise the form of Komachi’s poems
That gave fame to
Cherry blossoms.
(Translation taken from Surimono: Poetry and Image in Japanese Prints [Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, 2000])
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
