Courting Komachi (Kayoi Komachi), from the series Seven Fashionable Figures of Ono no Komachi (Furyu nana Komachi yatushi sugata-e)
Edo period (1615–1868), about 1792
Medium
Color woodblock print; oban
Dimensions
37.5 × 26 cm (14 3/4 × 10 1/4 in.)
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
89474
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
In this print, a contemporary courtesan and her attendant walk at night, presumably to visit a client. The latter holds a lantern that shines a beam of light across the design, changing the color of all that passes through it. The sheen on the lit portion of the courtesan’s sash was created with animal glue, an adhesive made of rendered animal tissue. This scene is meant to recall an episode in which famed poet Ono no Komachi asked one of her suitors to visit her on 100 successive days in order ...
About the Artist
Utagawa Toyokuni I · 1777–1835
Japanese, 1777–1835