Untitled

Chōbunsai Eishi

ca. 1795 · Woodblock print; ink and color on paper · Asian Art

The subject of "Kayoi Komachi," inscribed in the upper right corner of this print, refers to a tragic story from a classical Noh play. Ono no Komachi, a tenth-century poetess, promises to meet her ardent suitor Fukakusa Shōjō if he agrees to spend a hundred nights on the steps of a courtly oxcart. After ninety-nine nights, he dies. This print is a play on the popular story; the beauty, dressed in a contemporary robe and holding an umbrella, may be on her way to see a lover on a snowy day. Born of a samurai family, the artist first studied under the Kano school, and the Tokugawa shogun Ieharu gave him the artistic name Eishi.

Artist

Chōbunsai Eishi

Date

ca. 1795

Medium

Woodblock print; ink and color on paper

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

The Howard Mansfield Collection, Purchase, Rogers Fund, 1936