|
Reference |
EMC087 |
Artist |
Toyohara
Chikanobu
|
|
Series |
Setsu-gekka no uchi -
Snow, Moon and Flowers |
|
Title |
Yamashiro. Fukakusa (no) yuki. Ono no Komachi, Shi no Shosho - The moon at Fukakusa,
Yamashiro province. Ono no Komachi and Shi no Shosho |
Date |
1884 |
|
Signature/Seal |
yoshu Chikanobu hitsu with Toshidama seal |
Publisher |
Kobayashi Tetsujiro |
|
Format:
Dimensions |
Oban Tate-e
24 cm x 36,3 cm; 9.5" x 14.5" |
Impression |
Very good |
Colors |
Very
good |
Condition |
Very
good. Margins slightly trimmed.
|
|
Description |
The print shows the snow at Fukakusa,
in Yamashiro Province. The scene chosen to illustrate this subject draws upon Ono no Komachi (unknown dates, mid-800s), a famous beauty and poetess who was
the only woman among the rokkasen, or Six Immortal Poets. Her poems were included in the Kokinshû (compiled around 900) and in the 13th century
collection Ogura Hyakunin Isshu (One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets.
Episodes of her life become the basis of seven important Noh plays. One of them is Kayoi Komachi, who tells how she become the subject of the ardent
love of a Guard Captain, called Shii no Shosho. In order to test him, or as a demonstration of her cruel character, she requested that, in order for her to receive
him, he was to visit her one hundred successive nights, without being admitted to her house. He faithfully visited her during ninety-nine nights, only to dye of
exposure from a snowstorm in the last night.
The upper cartouche shows an allusion to another famous scene of Komachi, in which she prayed for rain. |
|
