鈴木春信画　若水を汲む男女|Drawing the First Water of the New Year

Suzuki Harunobu

ca. 1769–70 · Woodblock print; ink and color on paper · Asian Art

Symbols of spring abound in this poem. A young couple draws the “first water of the New Year” (wakamizu) in decorated buckets; pine saplings sit by the doorway, and plum blossoms burst into bloom. The scene also calls to mind an episode from the tenth-century Tales of Ise (Ise monogatari) known as the “Well curb,” in which young lovers recall measuring their heights by the well as children. It reads Haru o hete kyō tatematsuru wakamizu ni chitose no kage ya matsu ukamuramu . As spring arrives, today, we offer to the gods the year’s first drawn water attached with pine shoots as from time immemorial —Trans. John T. Carpenter

Artist

Suzuki Harunobu

Date

ca. 1769–70

Medium

Woodblock print; ink and color on paper

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1914