Art Institute of Chicago

Praying for Rain Komachi (Amagoi Komachi)

Ishikawa Toyonobu

Date

Edo period (1615–1868), about 1755

Medium

Color woodblock print (benizuri-e); hashira-e

Culture

Japan

Department

Arts of Asia

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

Here poet Ono no Komachi has just recited a poem about rain, causing the heavens to open up. This is an example of a hashira-e (pillar print), which would have been displayed on one of the pillars of a traditional Japanese home. Ishikawa Toyonobu excelled in creating designs for this type of print at a time when the size and format had just become standardized. Additionally, this image is a benizuri-e, a print that has only two or three colors, including beni, a pinkish red. Works with this coloring were prominent before multicolored prints were developed in the 1760s. The poem written above the image reads: Raindrops on the cover, A protection against the frost for the narcissus blossom. (Translation by Kenji Toda)

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