Courting Komachi (Kayoi Komachi), from the series Famous Scenes from Japanese Puppet Plays (Yamato irotake)
Edo period (1615–1868), 1705/06
Medium
Woodblock print; oban
Dimensions
27.3 × 39.1 cm (10 3/4 × 15 7/16 in.)
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
19606
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Two actors in an imagined Kabuki drama enact a scene from a puppet play based on a legend about ninth-century poet Ono no Komachi. Komachi instructed a suitor to prove his love by visiting her on 100 successive days. On the final day, he did not appear because he was caught in a storm and died. Here the suitor’s ghost visits Komachi in the middle of the night. The Art Institute and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, are the only two museums with a full set of this series of prints by Okumura Masan...
About the Artist
Okumura Masanobu · 1686–1764
Japanese, 1686–1764