Ono no Komachi Visiting Kiyomizu Temple, from the series The Fashionable Seven Komachi (Furyu nana Komachi)

1781·Color woodblock print; oban·38.7 × 25.4 cm (15 1/4 × 10 in.)

<p>In this print, two women and a young boy have gone to Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto to view the cherry blossoms. The boy ties a slip of paper with a poem on it onto one of the trees. This image refers to a myth from Ono no Komachi’s life, in which a young woman visiting Kiyomizu Temple overhears a monk’s prayers for Komachi and leads him to the elderly poet’s house. The print’s pale coloring—confined to green, pink, yellow, and shades of gray—gives the scene a soft, lyrical quality.</p>

Catalogue

Year: 1781
Medium: Color woodblock print; oban
Dimensions: 38.7 × 25.4 cm (15 1/4 × 10 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Chōbunsai Eishi

Artist

Chōbunsai Eishi

Printmaking

Chōbunsai Eishi was an 18th-century Japanese woodblock print artist and painter known for ukiyo-e works depicting bijin (beautiful women) and kabuki actors. Active during the late Edo period, he developed a refined, elegant style characterized by elongated figures and delicate linear detail. His prints and paintings represent a transition between earlier Edo aesthetics and the more decorative approaches of his contemporaries. This profile will be expanded as more verified source material becomes available.

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