Art Institute of Chicago

Floating Shojo

Chomu

Date

1870s

Medium

Color woodblock print; surimono

Culture

Japan

Department

Arts of Asia

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

Chomu here presented a summer scene with a paper figure of Shojo floating in a water basin and reflected on its surface. Shojo are mythical, sake-loving water sprites that live on the ocean’s floor. They often appear in Japanese art and are usually shown dancing drunkenly around a sake cask. Like the parrot prints by Tanaka Shutei , these two prints have the same artist, design, and host, Hayama Kiitsu. Kiitsu, an Osaka haiku poet, may have recycled this charming design by an otherwise unknown artist in order to save trouble, time, or expense.

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