Description
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])
Ono no Komachi Viewing a Cherry Tree (Komachi zakura), from the series Cherry Blossoms of Katsushika (Katsushika sakura zukushi)
Edo period (1615–1868), about 1820
Accession Number
89680
Medium
Color woodblock print; surimono
Dimensions
21 × 18.1 cm (8 5/16 × 7 3/16 in.)
Classification
woodblock print
Credit Line
Clarence Buckingham Collection
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